I have a 15 year old beagle named Winston. We’ve had him since he was 6 weeks old. He’s shared our multiple different addresses, slept in our bed, stolen food from the dining room table, ruined carpets and walls, annoyed friends and neighbors with his baying and helped us welcome our kids. I also have 2 other dogs, a big beautiful German Shepherd and a little mutt we rescued about 14 years ago, but Winston is still the king.
Winston & Bella, about 14 years ago.
Until last year, my beagle was still feisty, always foraging for food and extremely alert and attentive. But now my Winston is really slowing down and it’s sad to watch it happen.
His face, once brown and vibrant, is now fully white and his eyes, once dark brown and bright, now seem dim. He can no longer roam free in my house because he has accidents all the time now and he cannot tell us in time that he needs to go outside. He seems to get confused at times, too.
He now sleeps in a crate lined with absorbent pads. He doesn’t love it, but he accepts it and just curls up to sleep when I put him at night. It’s our new night ritual and I get bummed out every time I have to put him in.
Our GSD loves and looks after Sir Winston.
It’s getting harder to wake him up in the mornings because he’s deaf now and sleeps deeply. Even when he wakes, he doesn’t want to move and it takes him a while to stretch out. He staggers when he walks a little and for a while, he had us very worried as he suffered a mild stroke and walked sideways for a bit.
He’s recovered from that, but his decline in the last few months has been very apparent and also very solemn. We’ve taken such good care of our dogs, even feeding them a homemade custom diet that we really believe has prolonged Winston’s life. Beagles normally live to 13 and my Winston is 15, going on 16 in a few months.
Therefore, it makes it hard for us to accept that no matter how well we treat him, how well we feed him and how well we manage his little issues, there is nothing we can do for him aging and declining so fast.
Sir Winston.
And so yes, I do get sad when I look at my little Winston. He has been there since the beginning of my family and through the birth of my kids. He’s basically been there for most of my adult life! He’s been such a big personality and just part of our lives for so long that it’s difficult to think of life without his little ass begging for food or hounding the kids when they’re eating or snacking.
I don’t know how much longer Sir Winston can keep going, but I do know that I will not allow him to suffer. I know what the eventuality is and I’m prepared to do everything I can to ensure my little beagle enjoys the time he has left. On this, my household is in agreement.
And of course, all this brings us back to what’s happening to all of us, albeit in a slower time-frame (it doesn’t feel slow). We’re all aging and it gets hard to accept that, especially when you realize that you can’t do things you used to.
Winston & Bella welcomed our kids.
I’m by no measure an old man yet, but I think about it a lot now. My little beagle reminds me that what is happening to him will one day happen to me. I’ve taken good care of my Winston and so now I am working on taking care of myself, as I have little kids and want to be around for as long as I can.
I read an article today from the NY Times entitled: “Aging Runners Find Help for a Question: How Slow Will I Get?” The article showed how aging runners deal with the fact that their best times or personal records are all behind them. That’s how I feel at times, as I don’t recover from heavy workouts like I used to in my 20s. The article concluded with these elite runners accepting that they can no longer match their previous times and that the solution is to leave your watch at home and just enjoy what you are doing.
The time to train for your best has now passed.
So yeah, getting old sucks.
Peekaboo!
Our tradition: feed Winston a Costco chicken on his bday.
I’m still here, bitches!
