A Max Report

Max, our 14 month old miniature daschund, has now moved into his teenage years.  Despite our many efforts, he still believes that he is in charge.  For an 11 pound pet, he certainly has a very big ego.  Despite this, he has some wonderful traits.   His level of enthusiasm for play and walks (preferably offleash) is contagious.  His several walks a day are keeping us (most particularly me) more fit.  We also enjoy going for a "pack" walk that involves all three of us.  It is one more thing that my husband and I now have in common and we enjoy these walks immensely.  When one of us is out,  he keeps the other company.

  

His ability to simply go to sleep when we both go out, sometimes for 4 or 5 hours at a time, is amazing.  We simply tell him that he has to "stay" and he does just that.  He finds a nice warm confortable spot, usually on the $400 faux fur throw that is draped on the living room couch.  As far as we can tell, he doesn't eat, chew, explore, or have accidents while we are gone.  His happiness when we return is a joy to watch.  He basically wags his whole body. 

During the early months, when he was a tiny, seemingly helpless puppy, I wasn't convinced that getting a dog was a good idea.  Now my husband and I agree that it has been a great success and we look forward to many happy joyful years with Max, Maxi, the Maxer, Maximillion, Macaroni, etc. etc.

Travelling with Max

Just thought I should provide a follow-up to my post about doing a business trip accompanied by my husband and my dog.  More about husbands later.  In this post, I want to report on our experience travelling with Max. 

I was quite surprised to discover that a very upscale vintage inn in Niagara-on-the-Lake actually had what they call dog-friendly rooms.  Ours was at the back of the hotel and instead of walking out our hotel room door into an internal corridor, we walked onto a covered porch area that bordered the back parking lot of the hotel.  We could head out for walks without having to go through the hotel.  It was very convenient and worked very well.  The only catch, when we checked out we discovered something they didn't tell us up front - we were charged an extra $35 per day to have the dog in our room!!  In the hotel information book, it referred to a "small" fee; we were quite taken aback to find that it added up to over a $100, what with taxes, for our 3 day stay.

At the next hotel we visited in Huntsville, we were also able to bring the dog into our room.  This time we were on the second floor of the hotel and had to go through the hotel to get outside.  However, there was no extra charge for having the dog in the room. 

Now I do have to confess that Max wasn't the perfect traveller.  He was a little thrown off by luxury inns, staying in the Guelph home of our niece with her very shy rescue dog, walking through the corridors of a hotel, and spending time in a retirement residence where we visited my husband's aunt and uncle.  This led to a few "accidents".  However, all in all he really did behave himself and we discovered that we could in fact travel successfully with him.  He did enjoy himself as well; he had his first off-leash run on the commons in Niagara-on-the-Lake and generally displayed a sense of curiosity and adventure during most of the trip.

We are not in a rush to do it again but we do feel confident that Max is an adaptable little dog and will have lots of travel adventures in his future.

The New Puppy Arrives and Life Changes

Here is a picture of Max.  He's a four month old miniature black and tan short haired dachshund.  It has been 5 days now and there is no question that having a puppy enter your life is a pretty dramatic change.  Our puppy has bonded strongly with me since I get up early in the morning with him, feed him, praise him, talk to him, play with him, take him outside, etc. etc.  He particularly likes my lap.  Trouble is there is a lot you can't get done when you've got a dog on your lap!

I've never had a puppy or a baby and really didn't know what it would be like. Because he is so young, it is going to take lots of patience and time to ensure that he becomes a well behaved, relaxed and friendly dog.

There is research that demonstrates that having a dog (or some other kind of pet) can be a very positive and rewarding experience for people as they age and move into the later years of their lives.  They cite benefits such as:  the strong emotional attachment that occurs, the requirement to get out and get some exercise with your dog, and the practice you get caring about a creature other than yourself.  

Gone and Done It!

Finally, a decision made and a commitment taken on - we are going to be picking up our new puppy later this week!  How exciting and frightening all at the same time.  We went to a pet store yesterday in order to acquire at least the basic stuff we will need including a cage, food, a collar and a leash.  In some ways, I'm glad that we have no idea what we are in for.  Over the course of my life, I've often made changes on that basis because if I did know what to expect, I'd never take any chances or make any big changes.  All in all that approach has worked just fine and it sure reduces the worrying.

If you've taken on a puppy as one of your retirement "projects", I'd love to have your advice.

No Dog Yet

Another spring has rolled around and I haven't done much to acquire that cute little daschund I said that I wanted to get in one of my earlier posts. It struck me this week that my indecision is based on a phenomenon that is probably quite common to retirees. I know that once I have the dog, I will adapt quickly and I'm sure would fall in love with having a dog in no time. However, my mind keeps chalking up the downsides as well. In particular, I'm concerned about how it would tie us down. If we went to a dinner party, we'd have to hurry home to let the dog out; if we wanted to get away for a weekend, we'd either have to find someone to look after it or take it with us. But if we did the latter, then who'd keep an eye on it when we went out. And which hotels would let us have a dog in our room. And then what if we wanted to take a longer vacation. And then I think about the huge veterinary bills that most of my friends with pets always seem to be talking about. See what I mean?

You can see my dilemma. Having a dog involves commitment and so too does getting involved in a volunteer or part time job, registering in a university course, just to name a few. In retirement, many people crave the freedom of no schedule, no feelings of being tied down, having flexibility. And herein lies the challenge. Once we do decide to commit, our options to do other things may narrow. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a reason not to get a dog or to take on interesting and rewarding commitments. But it is one of the issues that retirees do have to address as they implement their vision for retirement.

I wouldn't mind hearing from those of you who have bitten the bullet and gone ahead and picked out that cute pet. What's your secret for getting the job done?

Dogs and Retirement

A few years ago I noticed that alot of our friends were acquiring pets, dogs to be exact. In most cases these were people who had kids and the timing seemed to overlap with these kids launching from the nest. I assumed that some strange need to continue to be responsible for the care and feeding of others was at work. At the time, I really couldn't understand why all these people were doing this.

Then I got the bug and I don't even have children. My husband had a very cute daschund-like dog when he was a kid and his father took a video of it when they were at the beach. For some reason, the image of this short legged long bodied dog with the flapping ears captured my attention and I haven't been able to get the image out of my head. Now I seem to have the "get a dog" bug. I'm convinced it must be related to aging and being in the retirement zone. I visit web sites for daschunds, and I've spoken to breeders about the breed, and I've done alot of research. This has been sort of good and bad. On the one hand, it hasn't changed the fact that I want one; however, when I consider the implications, I get positively anxious about all that responsibility at a time in my life when I would like to be free to pick up and take off.

So far, I've avoided actually getting the dog, but I'm convinced that if I ever find myself in the presence of a daschund litter, I won't be able to resist. Research does show that pets can play a very positive role in the life of humans, including those who are aging. So one of these days I may just do it.