A while back I was speaking with Dogster member Ron about his pup Takoda, a special needs dog. I asked if he would like to do an article on what it’s like to adopt a  special needs or older dog. What you bring to their lives, and the unbelievable joy they bring to yours.

I recently received Ron’s response and it seems like the perfect post as American Humane’s Adopt-A-Dog Month comes to an end.

I guess you could say that research started when my wife and I adopted Takoda. Like Logan, he was a stud dog in a Puppy Mill, used and abused for the first three years of his life and then ready to be tossed away, along with four other Dobermans, when the people who owned the Mill decided they were no longer of use and were ready to toss them to a Kill Shelter. Thank God a Rescue Group heard about that and promptly rescued them all. If that hadn’t happened, we never would have known how much love a Rescued and Adopted dog, be it a Senior or Special Needs, has to give.

I wanted to really be able to tell you exactly what was needed to adopt that Special Needs, or Senior, dog so I joined several different groups to see what others had to say. I just wanted to read the posts and see what was being said from the heart, not from the mind. What I wanted was their feelings and comments that were spontaneous, not thought out. Those reasons and feelings that came from deep within.

I’ve been visiting, reading and taking notes for quite a while now and just knew a pattern would start forming rapidly. Well, after all this time that hasn’t happened. From what I read in all those posts, there really wasn’t anything specific about the people who adopted a Special Needs or Senior dog, they varied from young to old, from those with the ability to give the best of care to those who would have to scrounge a little to take care of their pet. There just didn’t seem to be anything specific that was needed.

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Chanel, a dachshund,  turned 21-years-old  on May 6th and became the oldest living dog on record.   Sadly, I just found out that she has passed away. On Friday, August 28th she went to Rainbow Bridge at the tender age of 147-years-old.

She was adopted by Karl and Denice Shaughnessy from a shelter in Newport News, VA. when she was only 6 weeks old. She appeared on the Today Show in May to commemorate her Woofday  wearing tinted goggles for her cataracts and a sweater because she was sensitive to the cold. After the show aired she celebrated with a big Manhattan Woofday bash.

(A.P.) Guinness World Records officials presented Chanel with a certificate as the world’s oldest dog at a Manhattan birthday bash hosted by a private pet food company in May.

Chanel loved the party, especially the cake, which had a peanut butter flavor and had been made for dogs, Denice Shaughnessy said.

There have been claims of older dogs but Guinness World Records has not yet been able to verify any birth records. According to Janelle Derouen her dog Max is 26-years-old. She said GWR officials are trying to verify this information, although they will not confirm this.

* Pic ourtesy AP Photo/Karl and Denise Shaughnessy

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Dogster member Bill sent me an article about Virginia, she’s an older dog who recently went blind. Since there are a lot of Dogsters who have senior dogs, like us, and worry about this issue I thought the article would be of interest.

It goes to show that just because a dog goes blind it doesn’t mean they’re out of the game. Dogs adjust surprisingly well, it’s humans who have a harder time dealing with it.

Jason Torchinsky is a guest blogger on Boing Boing. Jason has a book out now, ‘Ad Nauseam: A Survivor’s Guide to American Consumer Culture’. He lives in Los Angeles, where he is a tinkerer and artist and writes for the Onion News Network. He lives with a common-law wife, five animals, too many old cars, and a shed full of crap

One of my dogs, Virginia, went blind late last year. I knew it was coming; she has glaucoma, and lost sight in one of her eyes a while before. We’d been keeping the other eye alive with lots and lots of medicine, but the vet told us it was just a matter of time. So, when the morning came and I found her running around crazily all over the house, nose to the ground, I shouldn’t have been surprised.

Still, I was pretty alarmed. And while I read lots on the internet about this, and even saw the articles that said not to panic, the dog will adapt, those articles were almost invariably written by the sort of hyper-caring earth-mother women who could say taking care of a limbless, eyeless, incontinent sea lion was an easy, rewarding experience anyone could do. I didn’t really buy it.

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If you have an older dog you are probably quite familiar with cataracts. Any dog that is lucky enough to become a senior is in all likelihood going to get them.

Cataracts cause a clouding over the lens of the eye, which blurs vision and can potentially cause blindness if not treated. The standard treatment to remove them is with surgery, which can be costly.

Donita Mason, from the Salt Lake Alternative Pet Examiner, wrote an article on treating cataracts using alternative remedies.

One of the heartbreaks that happen as animals age is the development of cataracts. This is much more common in dogs than in cats. When it gets to the point that the animal can no longer see, traditional medicine says the only thing they can do for it is surgery to remove the cloudy lens. The surgery is expensive and many loving owners would find it difficult, especially in today’s financial state, to come up with the funds for the surgery. The chances of helping an animal with surgery is even less if the animal has shown up at a rescue group. For these situations it has just been accepted that the animal was blind.

MSM and Flaxseed oil

In talking with a local vet he has assured me that this treatment would be “safe for any mammal.” You are going to need a couple of eye droppers, some saline solution or a very mild eye drop, pure MSM with no additives, and cold pressed flaxseed oil. On the flaxseed oil, you want to make sure it is the cold pressed that you get from the refrigerated section of your local health food store. You want the cold pressed to insure that in the process of getting the oil, it has not been altered in any way. Flaxseed oil is easily affected by heat and light. The bottles that are in the cooler are dark to prevent the light from affecting it. In addition, doctors view the cold pressed oil to be the most effective.

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Since we’re on the topic of senior dogs, here is a beautiful girl who desperately needs a home.

As I was finishing up the article Senior Benefits I received an email about Honey Bear. She was rescued by The Pepper Foundation in Studio City, CA.

Honey Bear’s story…
We rescued Honey Bear from the Harbor Animal Shelter in San Pedro where her family dumped her cause they said they could no longer care for her. She is the sweetest dog ever! She is about 12 yrs old but is very agile and still active. She is very affectionate and give sweet kisses! she will make a wonderful companion and wants to be your best friend! Please give Honey Bear a chance, she wont let you down!

Contact: Julie Chadwick via email.

About Our Rescue Group…
We rescue dogs mostly out of the Los Angeles City shelters and find loving and forever homes for them. We mostly take in the special needs, and senior doggies on their last days at the shelter. A lot of the time these animals have been abandoned and we want to give them a second chance at a forever loving home. Donations are always welcome since we operate by donations only..You can always make a paypal donation to Planetheart. We are a 501 c 3 and all donations are tax deductible.

I have to believe someone out there is going to look at that precious face and contact the shelter about adopting her. Don’t you just want to grab hold of Honey Bear and shower her with love?

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Last week I posted Where Do Old Dogs Go?, about senior dogs being given up by their owners who no longer want to care for them. One of the groups that is stepping in to help these dogs is Muttville, a wonderful organization that rescues dogs age 7 and over.

As I was going through the news this morning I came across an article about them. Muttville was started 2 1/2 years ago and has helped 300 senior dogs get new homes.

The cocker spaniel was found wandering on the streets of San Jose two weeks ago. He is blind and deaf and his fur was so matted that day you couldn’t see his eyes.

He would have been put down if someone hadn’t thought to call Sherri Franklin in San Francisco. She is the founder and executive director of a wonderful organization called Muttville, which rescues and seeks homes for senior dogs, at least 7 years old.

Franklin describes herself as “Muttville Central” because she takes in so many dogs herself, but she has a network of 23 foster homes around the Bay Area, including on the Peninsula, where dogs are given a second chance. Some of them have cancer and other diseases, but these kind people take them in to give them a warm, loving place for their last days.

Others might call them rescuers and foster parents. I call them saints.

“It’s the passion that keeps me going,” said Franklin, a hairstylist by profession. “The dogs just keep you going.”

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Well, Tessie the dog and Monkey the cat garnered quite a few entries this week but it was long-time player, Obie, who hit the nail the head with the quotes below. Spend the Zealies on something fun, Obie.

New contest is on it’s way tomorrow and I only have two words for you: yorkie puppies

Cat Food PerfumePhotograph© 2009 MarkRogersPhotography.com all rights reserved.

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I want to thank Dogster member Rhon for sending me a diary entry from Daisy Mae’s page. And of course Daisy Mae for posting it.

This is a heartbreaking and eye-opening look at what happens to senior dogs when their owners decide they can no longer care for them, or choose not to.

Flo is a doe-eyed 10 year-old Basset hound mix that was sent to the animal shelter when her owner couldn’t return home after being hospitalized. The little dog, who is almost deaf, was terrified to be in a cage at a shelter with so many other animals and all of the commotion.

Josie is a serious looking senior Wheaton terrier mix whose owners tied a pretty bow around her neck and dropped her off at a shelter in Northern California.

And when a tiny silver-haired Shih Tzu named Jennifer got too old, her family brought her to the shelter to be euthanized.

This is how life turns out for thousands of loyal older dogs. The main reason senior dogs are relinquished to shelters seems to be illness. Either the owner becomes too sick or passes away or the dogs develop an illness and owners can’t afford to pay for the medical care or choose not to get help.

Prospects are pretty grim if you’re an unwanted senior canine. Shelter workers see the tragedy every day as older dogs with wonderful dispositions are tossed aside. And once they get to an overcrowded public shelter with limited resources they are “practically written off” as un-adoptable.

In addition to being hard to re-home, senior dogs have special health risks when they’re exposed to a shelter environment. They’re more susceptible to kennel cough, their arthritic bones get worse as they sit on concrete floors and the overall stress of living in a shelter can worsen any pre-existing illness. For most old dogs the shelter is where they spend their last days before being euthanized.

However, in the last couple of years some animal advocates who are touched by these sad circumstances are coming to the aid of senior canines.

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There is nothing sadder to me than seeing a senior dog  who has been abandoned by their family.  After years of dedicated companionship and unconditional love they are dumped off at shelters for a variety of reasons.

As a dog ages it does bring new challenges, dealing with health issues and more visits to the vet, which usually means more of a financial strain on the owner.

With that being said, you wouldn’t put a parent or grandparent in a shelter because they’ve become an “inconvenience”.  Yet, it happens everyday with senior dogs. The HSUS has a great article by Angela Moxley on the added benefits of adopting an older dog, and yes, there are definite benefits.

One advantage of adopting an older pet is that with age comes a grown-up perspective on life. Both Tess and Alma moved seamlessly into our home; they know their place in a house where humans rule the roost. It was as if we had adopted two adult children without suffering the angst of those trying teenage years.

The other great thing is that an older dog usually doesn’t require as much physical activity.  Logan, our 5-year-old Berner, loves going to the park but is also content to hang out when I’m working.

When we just want to veg out and read a book or watch a movie, our aging companions are content to curl up by our side and veg out, too. But “old” doesn’t mean “sedentary.” Tess loves acting goofy, rolling around for belly rubs, and galloping after tennis balls. Alma goes crazy for the cat dancer toy. And at the end of a vivacious playtime romp, they’re perfectly happy to listen when we say “No more.”

I know people mean well when they say how lucky our old animals are, but they’re missing the point. We are the lucky ones, to have found them.

I couldn’t agree more with author Angela Moxley, we are the lucky ones. If you would like to read an inspirational story stop by the HSUS to checkout Gray, with a Silver Lining, the story of Grannie Annie.

Now go find a senior soulmate, because as quoted by Abraham Lincoln, “And in the end, it’s not the dog years in your life that count. It’s the life in your dog years.”

* Photo Courtesy The HSUS/Michelle Riley

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Not for seniors, but to adopt a senior. Dog that is, not citizen. The Ashland County Shelter in Ohio is offering discounted adoption rates for senior dogs.

The downturn in the economy has led to increase in the amount of dogs being dropped off at the shelter.  Senior dogs, those five years and older, are always harder to adopt out.

The normal fee is $60. For dogs that are part of the “blue-tag” special, the cost is $14 with a license; $24 with license and vaccinations; and $34 with license, vaccinations and microchip.

The shelter is hoping with the low adoption price of $14 potential adopters will consider an older dog.  A dog like Grampy, who was found tied to a tree, starving and emaciated. He has been at the shelter since November 10th and is on the road to recovery. Now, he just needs to be on the road to his new forever home.

Having adopted an older dog in June I know how wonderful it is.  It can also come with a few benefits, you don’t have to worry about toilet training or destructive chewing. Plus, I really believe they know how lucky they are to be adopted and the amount of love you get in return is priceless.

The Ashland County Dog Shelter, 1710 Garfield Ave., is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Call 419-289-1455 or go to  www.ashlandcounty.org for more information.

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