It Has Been A Rough Winter

[Tambrey]

As the title states. ...this has been a rough one...

Within a 3 month timeframe, we lost Taz, Sammie and Squirt...
They were all old....

Taz was blind and had an accident one evening in the rain while we were at school...he knew his porch and yard, but slipped off the exterior deck stairs and fell between the fence and outside doghouse, which was there if he wanted to lay outside rather than inside. ....even though he physically recovered, it took its toll on his body...one day he just refused to get up...so we called the vet...he came to the house and on the back porch on a sunny winter day, my husband held Taz as the vet first gave him a muscle relaxer...placed a folded towel under his head as his body relaxed...then shaved his forelegs and inserted an IV to give the final dose...he crossed the bridge in David's arms...

Sammie was sleeping more and eating less, so we just took it a day at a time with him...one evening we came home and I went right to his open door crate, his bedroom, to pet him and let him know we were home...but he had passed in his sleep...

Squirt had a mild stroke a few months ago that affected his right hind leg a bit...the vet checked him when he was there with Taz and said his strength etc was still great elsewise...he was eating and still loping around the yard...just weak in that leg...so again, it was a day to day thing with him...we figured that the day he gave up, like Taz, we would call the vet. ...but he gave up over night in his sleep as well...no real warmings...we went out the next morning to play with him and Kayleigh and he was gone...

So we havery Kayleigh, who is also about 13 or so..still tons of energy and runs circles around us!
And Ghost, who is 10 and still full of lots of energy...

We are debating on going to get an older shelter dog for Kayleigh...used to other dogs and loves being outside.....the local shelter recently received I think 5 dogs...an older man had rescued them from the same shelter at one time and they lived on his farm....he is now terminally ill and hospice has been called in...none of his family wanted them...so he relinquished them back....
We want to take Kayleigh with us to the shelter and see if she is attracted to any of them, then put her and the other dog into a run together and see how they do...including putting food dishes in...

Ghost is inside since he does not develop a winter coat...bit we still let him and Kayleigh play together. ..
Kayleigh cannot be in the house...she used to be, but broke windows, doors and....kills cats, not meaning to....we are not home enough to leave her inside without supervision, and don't want to be briNing her in, then back out to the kennel, that is not fair either...so we think an older dog her same size and energy level will be good...