Just A Dog
In 2005, two little yellow furballs came home with me from separate breeders, and the legends of Ryder and Bella began. Bella came home in May and Ryder came home in October. Both puppies had all the potential in the world and would make any Labrador Retriever owner proud.
But, one thing that never crossed my mind was that dog years are not equal to human years and that the time would come all too soon when I would have to say goodbye. Thankfully, that is not the case yet. Ryder and Bella both entered their fourteenth year, but they are beginning to show their age.
Ryder is getting long in the tooth and is having difficulty getting up and down in his crate. Bella has slowed down considerably, but she can still run when the spirit moves her.
But, what strikes me more is that our dogs are only here for a little while and they were not meant to spend our lifetime growing with us. If that were the case, the best hunting dogs would still be learning their trade at 20 years old, and some of our police dogs would take 25 years to meet the requirements of the academy. As it is, the best dogs are pros at three and retired at ten; the prodigies are pros at 18 months and continue to set the tone for others in their breed until they are 12 to 15 years old. Those dogs are ones destined to be called, ‘once in a lifetime’ dogs.
