Dear Backwoodsman. I want to condole with you on your unhappy news regarding your dog. I didn't pick up on his age but I can share that some friends of mine shared the life of their 13 year old black labrador who was a very sagacious and refined animal. I have always liked animals but I was not a 'dog' person until I met Raven. She was walked every day but we didn't notice that she lost all feeling and capability in her tail and we realized we were lucky she could still walk at all. She had no feeling in her after-end and her owner would clean up after her because she was not aware of anything coming out of her rear for her last year. Since we have substantial winters here we would make a judgement call on rounding out the year with her, but she was a loyal family member who kept up her abilities to eat, walk, and interact until one day she woke up and just sat on the coouch and stared blankly. The owners shared her last moments with me and gave away her toys and the ramp that allowed her to get into the car. BUT. Within a month they asked me to drive them out of town where they bought a labradoodle pup. So now I'm a dogfather. The youthful beast is a daily reminder of the energy inherent in the newly created and the innocent nature of animals who draw compassion from those of us who love nature's babies. In this stage of her life she can't tell the difference between uphill and down, and balls that don't belong to her.

I hope you have positive times with your canine and you can all appreciate what we can of life.