Older Dogs

     Older dogs teach you patience. Blind older dogs teach you empathy. Diabetic, blind older dogs teach you how to administer insulin to another living creature.

      This is Angus our 14 year old rescue dog. He's been diabetic for four years and blind for about the last two years. He comes to me regularly when he needs to go outside. This can sometimes be in the middle of the night, though usually not when it is raining.

     Dogs do not react too much to the loss of eyesight. Yes, I know it probably bothers him but he just carries on and wants to be around us. Stoic is the word I would use to describe him. All our neighbors marvel at him when we walk by their houses. The neighborhood dogs bark their greetings as soon as the see him. One day another 14 year old dog saw him and got up to give him a sniff. This particular dog had been having trouble with her back legs, but the sight of an old friend give her the impetus to rise and greet Angus. I don't believe we can assign too many feelings to dogs. They are too good for words. Or as Mark Twain once said:

     "Heaven goes by favor; if it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in."