The Old Girl

Samantha, along with Vince and TJ, are my seniors, 12-14 years old. Actually Samantha was said to be 14 when we got her last May, so she must be approaching 15 now, making her the matriarch of the household. She acts the part too. She's old, stubborn, hard of hearing, and part rottweiler. When she wants something, she stands there and demands it until she gets it, whether it's to be let outside, inside, or to be fed. Her list of needs is a short one.

I feed her in the morning with everyone else, and I intend to feed her again in the evening. Lately, however, whenever she goes outside midday, anytime after noon, she's convinced that it's dinner time and refuses to come back inside until she's been fed again. If it's at least mid to late afternoon, I may give in, but then she wants to eat again when I feed everyone else at the real dinner time. When she refuses to budge, I have two options: 1) a bribe, which has made me keep treats around the house for the first time; or 2) drop a slip lead over her head and lead her inside. The first day I had her, I made the mistake of grabbing her by the collar when I wanted to move her. She was scared and turned and nipped at me, getting the tip of a finger. I haven't made that mistake again and I warn everyone not to reach for her except to let her sniff your hand and then pet her head once she decides you'll all right.

I went to renew my county dog kennel license the other day and realized that I had no rabies certificate or other vet records on her. The former owners were in the midst of a move and didn't have anything other than the rabies tag. I made a vet appointment and got her in there on Tuesday after observing what appeared to be tapeworm segments in her stool. She tested positive for Erlichia, but negative for heartworms and everything else. I got some doxy for the Erlichia and for meds for the tapeworm and also got her nails trimmed while we were there. She had been limping a bit the last few days, so I started her on an anti-inflammatory and she had some pep back in her step right away. She's got some fatty tumors on her and she's at least party deaf, but all things considered she's doing really well for almost 15 years old.

She can still do the stairs and she comes up to the bedroom at night and sometimes to my office during the day. She's taken over the Cabell Cave downstairs, that's the storage space under the stairway. I removed the door and put in a nice big dog bed for her. It's a nice place to hang out where she can still keep an eye on whatever is happening.

I didn't think she could make the jump into the van
on her own and I knew she wouldn't want me to
pick her up. A bale of hay made an easy step.

She liked the back of the van in
the sun and wasn't anxious to get
out when we got home. 

She got an updated rabies tag and county
license tag, and some new bling as well.

I think she's pretty happy here.