i'm sad about my old pets

abbey got a bath yesterday and we dried her with the blow dryer. she looks like a yellow dandelion. emma did not get a bath. emma will smell bad regardless of how many baths she takes. she is mostly hound - and hounds stink in a special sort of way. abbey is a golden retreiver.

abbey ran away when we were gone over Christmas vacation. She was found about seven miles from home. when we returned from vacation - she did it again. both times a passerby picked her up and brought her home. our phone number is on her collar. i'm very happy they did that, because it can be expensive to get a run away dog out of the pound.

so, why does abbey run away? she will be twelve years old in october. emma will be twelve in february. abbey looks and acts younger than emma. emma is the alpha dog; has bossed abbey around for nearly twelve years. emma owns the world. abbey owns nothing...unless emma says she can own it. i think i might run away too if that were my situation.

so - we decided to see if boyd can live with abbey in the house. boyd's allergies have been getting worse with time, and mine seem not so bad anymore. so far, he does not seem very bothered by her. she is very clean now and she is not panting her breath into the room. she feels quite special being in the house. emma is sad though. when we call abbey into the house, we call them both in through the side door... they march through the living room and emma leaves out the front door. abbey stays inside.

boyd has been taking abbey for walks for about a month. she enjoys them. emma cannot walk very far anymore. emma's dachshund and corgi parts are disabling her more and more as time passes. emma also has tumors on her chest and belly. they dont seem to bother her, but eventually they will. today emma has seemed so tired...i wonder if it is just sadness.

i spent more time outside with emma today while abbey was on her walk. she seemed happy with me, but she did not want to play much...she just laid in the shade. (it was a warm day).

my sixteen year old cat smokey is quite perturbed by the dog being in her domain. she is deaf and slow, but she still bats at abbey if she gets near her food; and yells at her in her annoying old lady voice.

the last gold retriever i had before abbey passed away at 10 years old. when i was younger my family had german shepherds and they lived to about 13 years...but i think that may be because they had to be put down due to their hips failing. german shepherds have weak hips in general.

i dont know why i am posting this. i guess i am just sad about my animal situation. they are all old and will probably die within the next couple of years.

my llama, magnet, is old also. i think he is eighteen years old...but i should check his records; he might be older. llamas can live to thirty, but his stall mate died at twenty years.