The Declining Years of our First German Shepherd
By
Andrew Cuthbertson
Publicity Officer
September 2004
1. Introduction
This article documents the personal experiences that my wife, Linda, and I have had in confronting the declining years of our first German Shepherd, named Ashish. It is the third and final article in a series that follows his life and involvement with the German Shepherd dog clubs in the Australian Capital Territory (ACTGSDA) and Victoria (GSDCV; Cuthbertson, 2003a-b). The article is designed to assist first time German Shepherd owners proactively manage the aging process of their faithful companions, and addresses the important issues associated with:
Recognising the physical and mental signs of aging,
Managing the interaction with other dogs,
Changes to the family routine,
Seeking medical advice from appropriate veterinary experts,
Leveraging the experience of senior members of the GSDCV,
Dealing with euthanasia,
Managing the bereavement process.
It has been our experience that managing the declining years of our first German Shepherd was perhaps no different than that experienced in managing our human relatives. Ultimately, the decisions made along the way were based upon what was felt to be in the best interests of the dog. Sometimes those decisions were tough and in making them there was a need to actively manage the communications process among all the family members, especially with our son James.
2. The latter years
As Ashish approached his eleventh birthday so we increasingly became aware of his advancing years. While Ashish continued to have a healthy diet, he began to display obvious physical and less obvious mental changes associated with the aging process that affected his interaction with other dogs.
2.1 The physical signs of old age
The most visible physical signs of
his old age, included:
The increasing greying around his muzzle and gauntness of the face as a whole.
Lightening in the colour of his sable fur coat with an ever-increasing number of white hairs distributed throughout.
A gradual loss of muscle mass around the hind legs and a 25% decrease in weight over a six month
period, by his eleventh birthday.
Opaquing of his eyes with the retinas taking on a distinctive milky white colour.
Benign growths throughout his upper tail and lower torso.
Increasing spread of moles throughout his under belly.
A loss in physical strength and inability to jump or climb into either the car or onto his dog bed.
While Ashish was as keen as ever upon his two and sometimes three daily walks he was increasingly less able to cope with his regular long walk each evening. Indeed, a major challenge for us all was to manage his enthusiasm, for quite often he would insist upon a long evening walk, only to get exhausted towards the end of it. All to often, the family doggy ambulance had to be called out to go and collect him! Gradually, through time we managed to control his enthusiasm and began to take him on ever shorter and slower walks around our local neighbourhood of suburban Melbourne, visiting his favourite haunts along the Yarra River and adjoining park areas to seek out rabbits and go for a swim. Quite often, if Ashish had had a longish walk in the evening, he would sleep in the next morning until 0900hrs and seem happy to have forgone the morning walk that I took prior to going off to work.
Ashish especially liked to maintain his interest in tracking, and looked forward to doing two very short tracks each week. While the thought of getting a food reward at the end of the track was a major attraction, the intellectual challenge of tracking certainly stimulated his brain and continued to provide him with a purpose in life.
As time moved on, so Ashish would spend his days sleeping and only exerted himself to go either for an evening walk or go out into the garden in the morning to relieve himself. He liked nothing better that to have a sunbath in the garden during the brief periods of sunshine during winter and the increasing daylight hours of spring.
Winter nights became a particular concern, and to ensure that Ashish was not cold, we allowed him to either sleep in our bedroom on a beanbag, or at the end of our sofa in the TV room. Sleeping outside in his kennel and run was no longer an option.
Ashish increasingly experienced difficulty climbing onto his framed dog bed located in his corner of the main living area of the house, where he based himself during the day. This was subsequently replaced by James old cot mattress with a beanbag lying on top of it, thereby making it far easier for him to walk onto it.
Similarly, Ashish became no longer capable of jumping into the back of my car, and had to be assisted to climb in. Frequently, he would manage to get his front legs onto the back bumper and then expect me to lift the hind legs up so that he could then walk into the car. Ashish always resisted efforts to lift him in and out of the car.
While I resisted the temptation to build a collapsible ramp for Ashish, to aid entry and exit, I did install a beanbag and soft mat in the back of the car to pander to his well-known need for comfort.
2.2 The mental signs of old age
The most obvious mental sign of the aging process, was Ashish’s increasing need to be close to me at all times. He seemed to fret if I was out of view for long periods.
No longer was Ashish the aloof dominant male dog that had always been happy to watch over his domain, calling upon me whenever he wanted something. If I was to make plans for a car trip he would frequently express his desire to come with me, not so much for the possibility of an extra walk, but more for the opportunity to quietly sit in the back of the car and enjoy the scenery. Indeed,
whilst we were parked, Ashish would quite often climb into the front passenger seat beside me, and lie down with his head resting upon my lap.
2.3 Interaction with other dogs
In terms of Ashish’s interaction with other dogs, he never lost interest in the females and once he had sought them out would put on his usual parade of stances to endear himself to his new found love. Regrettably, he was physically incapable of capitalising upon his good fortune when he smelt out an unspade female, especially one that was close to coming into season. Ashish’s hind legs would give out on him either when he tried to mount them or they played rough with him. This was to be Ashish’s ultimate frustration and I am surprised that he never died of a heart attack in his attempts to propagate!
Other dominant male dogs that Ashish had known through the years continued to annoy him. Whilst in the past he would have let them know in no uncertain terms what he thought of them, increasingly he would ignore them and leave them to make all the noise. Interestingly, the younger generation of dominant male dogs never challenged Ashish, presumably because he was now no longer a threat to their need to establish a domain of influence. A younger generation was now finally taking over the rains of power.
Puppies continued to have special pride of place with Ashish and indeed seemed to be something he looked forward to when we attended the regular weekly meetings of the GSDCV. Upon leaving my car, he would make a beeline for the puppies as they socialised prior to class and could frequently be seen with up to two puppies hanging off his mane while he gently swung them from side to side off the ground. After the puppies had started class, Ashish would curl up to sleep in the clubhouse, and frequently ended up having a number of puppies sleeping with him if they became exhausted in class. Quite often, if the puppy owners came in unannounced and caught Ashish by surprise, he would stand up quickly and sound off as a protective instinct for the puppies. I am convinced that this protective instinct was the result of his up bringing in a pack environment, and just as his late uncle Sieger had looked after him as a puppy all those years ago, so he was looking after his puppy charges in his old age (Cuthbertson, 2003b).
3. Seeking advice
By eleven and a half years of age, Ashish’s hind legs were noticeably wasted and the claws on his back paws were progressively worn down to the quick as he dragged his legs behind him. Ashish increasingly relied upon his front shoulders to carry his weight and consequently developed a noticeable limp on the right shoulder as a result of the increased strain. Courses of anti-inflammatory drugs proscribed by our local veterinary surgeon progressively ceased to have any effect.
At this stage, after discussing Ashish’s plight with a number of senior breeders and instructors of the GSDCV, I sought a second opinion from a well-respected sports medicine veterinary surgeon that had been involved with greyhounds and German Shepherds for many years. The prognosis was not good, as nothing could be done for Ashish, and he had at best some three to four months to live. Ashish was diagnosed with Corna Equana, a progressive disease that would continue wasting his hind legs at an ever-increasing rate. Progressively, Ashish would be unable to get up off his bed and cease to be able to control his bodily functions. At that point I would have to make a judgement call upon his quality of life, and while he would
be in no pain, Ashish would face the prospect of euthanasia.
Strangely, I was mentally prepared for this news as subconsciously it confirmed what I already intuitively knew. I similarly broke the news to Linda and James in a quite matter of fact manner and forewarned them that at some stage we would have to face the prospect of having to put Ashish down. I stressed that when the time finally came to make that decision, while I would consult them and allow them to say their goodbyes, the final decision would be mine, and mine alone.
4. The decline gathers pace
As the months passed by so Ashish began to loose confidence when socialising with other dogs in the park. While he actively sought out other dogs to interact with, he could no longer cope with the youthful exuberance of adolescent dogs, and would back off in blind panic less they jump upon his weakening hind legs. Similarly, while Ashish still loved to meet young puppies, he increasingly grew anxious when they started their boisterous play. While Ashish never showed any signs of aggression towards them, I increasingly had to control his interactions with them, less any of them catch him off guard and cause him unnecessary stress. In effect, Ashish grew to expect me to manage his interaction with other dogs.
Ashish would occasionally meet a fellow veteran that he had known through the years and after initial introductions would happily lie together in a grass area quietly relaxing and enjoying the scenery of the world around them. Regrettably, the ranks of these veterans grew progressively thinner as they themselves went to that German Shepherd heaven in the sky. Linda and I found ourselves glancing increasingly at the death notices of Ashish’s old friends in the GSDCV club magazine and realising that his own departure was only a matter of time.
Progressively, Ashish was content to spend his days sleeping with minimal interaction with other dogs and had effectively ceased to be interested in making new friends. Whilst Ashish continued to look forward to the regular weekly meetings of the GSDCV, he was more interested in going on the car trip itself, enjoying the scenery and the chance to gain some peace and quiet in the back of my car. Occasionally, and just occasionally, Ashish would peer out of the car window to either see what I was doing or watch the younger dogs going through their basic obedience training. On those rare occasions that Ashish wanted to go for a quiet stroll through the parkland bordering the GSDCV training ground, so I had to physically lift him in and out of the car, an exercise that I knew he found degrading.
With the loss of mobility, so Ashish had increasing difficulty managing his body functions and physically was no longer capable of cocking his leg to mark his territory. Ashish would increasingly delay for as long as possible the decision to relieve himself with the result that the air in our house would occasionally be thick with foul smelling gaseous discharges. When finally Ashish indicated his need to relieve himself he would struggle into the garden to an area of dense bush where he could maintain a degree of privacy. For a dog that had always been very particular in not relieving himself in his own garden, this caused Ashish significant distress to the extent that on a number of occasions he attempted to eat his own excrement. Repeated assurances from Linda and I that he should not be embarrassed made no difference. Ashish had finally reached the stage where he could no longer maintain a quality of life that ensured his self respect.
5. The final trip to the veterinary surgeon
For all the discussion that we had as a family about the impending death of our valued and respected family member, Ashish’s eventual departure still came as a shock. While Linda and I had dealt with the loss of family members and former work colleges, at times under sudden and often tragic circumstances, Ashish’s death still had an effect. For James, it was his first personal experience of the bereavement of a close family member, and his grieving process had to be actively managed.
The decision to euthanise Ashish was made after long discussions with our local veterinary surgeon and a number of senior members of the GSDCV who had dealt with the death of successive dogs in their charge over many years. The basic message I received from them was that “you will know when the time has come to make the decision to euthanise, and when it comes do not delay and cause further unnecessary distress to the dog”. Indeed, one senior member of the GSDCV reported that his employer could never understand how he, as an owner of multiple German Shepherd dogs, managed to cope with the death of successive dogs on average once every ten years! His employer, as a matter of principle, ensured that on each occasion he was given a few days off work to come to terms with his loss. I was assured that coping with the loss of successive German Shepherd dogs did not get any easier with the years.
I made the euthanasia appointment with the local veterinary surgeon that had looked after Ashish’s day to day health through his declining years and who Ashish felt reasonably comfortable with. The appointment was made early in the morning to ensure that the veterinary surgeon was able to focus on the procedure and not be distracted by the built up of other appointments through the day. In making the appointment, I ensured that the veterinary surgeon explained the procedure to me so that I could come to terms with what lay ahead. Knowing how much Ashish had always hated his visits to the veterinary surgeon over the years we arranged for me to give him a sedative prior to arriving at the veterinary clinic to ensure that he was as relaxed and as calm as possible.
I made the very personal decision to be present and play an active role in the euthanasia process. Ashish and I had been through a lot together and it seemed only right that I be there as he faced his final hurdle in life. Both Linda and James individually decided not to attend and said their goodbyes with much emotion at home.
After arriving at the veterinary clinic I needed a few moments to compose myself prior to walking into the surgery to ensure that the veterinary surgeon was ready to carry out the euthanasia procedure at the agreed time. Having established that arrangements were running to schedule, Ashish and I had a final walk together around the veterinary clinic car park and then sat quietly together in the adjoining garden basking in the early morning sunshine until the veterinary surgeon advised me that the appointed hour had arrived.
The euthanasia process itself was short and sweet and after it was completed I spent a few moments alone with Ashish to quietly reflect on our life together and compose my flood of emotions. I am afraid that driving home alone was not an easy experience and in hindsight I should have arranged for someone to collect me.
Each and every one of us deal with grief in our own way and I personally have found it easier to take a few days off work in order to come to terms with the experience. With this in mind, I allowed James time off school and advised his teacher of the circumstances. While death itself is merely “parting breath”, we collectively found in the months ahead that we gradually came to quietly reflect positively on the experiences that we had had with Ashish.
6. A celebration of life
James insisted upon cremating Ashish rather than burying him at his favourite vantage point in our front garden overlooking the Yarra River valley. James argued quite convincingly that since there was no guarantee that we would continue living in the same house indefinitely, by cremating Ashish we would ensure that his ashes could come with us if and when the time came to move.
Arrangements were consequently made with the attending veterinary surgeon for Ashish to be cremated, and after what seemed an eternity his ashes were returned to us in a rather ornate urn. That urn now rests by the front door of our house with the engraved caption “My Shepherd, My Friend, and My Responsibility”.
As a matter of curtesy, I delivered a bouquet of flowers to the veterinary surgeon to thank her for her valued service over the years. To this day, I admire her ability to cope with death on such a day to day basis.
Some months after Ashish’s death, as a family we sat down one afternoon and selected a range of photographs that showed Ashish at different stages of his life and involved with a range of varied family and GSDCV activities. Those photographs were then framed together as a celebration of his life and today are proudly hung in James bedroom. Ashish may be gone, and our house now a little quieter, but his influence upon all of us lives on.
7. Acknowledgments
In the course of Ashish’s life, Linda and I have come into contact with many people from a vast array of walks of life that have contributed greatly to our knowledge of the German Shepherd breed. Each in their own way have helped Ashish reach his full potential both as a responsible member of the community and holder of the working Tracker Dog title. A special word of thanks is therefore extended to the members of the German Shepherd dog clubs in the Australian Capital Territory (ACTGSDA) and Victoria (GSDCV), the Victorian Canine Association (VCA), and the Tracking Club of Victoria (TCV) for their support and advice over the years.
In terms of medical support, Doctors’ Chris Barton (Montmorency Veterinary Hospital), Darryl Hofman and Rachel McCure (Eltham Veterinary Clinic), and Barry Haywood (Canine Sports Medicine Clinic) are thanked for their constructive advice and support over the years.
Finally, we thank the dogs of all breeds that we have met over the years in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, and Melbourne, Victoria, which have both provided friendship to Ashish and an opportunity for Linda and I to expand our network of contacts. We have found that dogs provide such an effective way of breaking the ice between humans, and while we remember few of the names of their owners we have a very clear memory of all the dogs that we have encountered, many of whom have themselves long gone to that doggy heavy in the sky. We therefore say thankyou to Gula, Hogan, Eva, Astec, Monti, Blanco, Juno, BJ, Molly, Ella, Lilly, Sima, Maxin, Axle, and finally Rex, a young male Border Collie who was the apple of Ashish’s eye during his final months and who gave him a special purpose in life as he struggled with failing health. As for Ashish’s German Shepherd male colleagues, Bobby, Scotty, and Thor, whom he always greeted with particular displeasure when there was an unspade bitch within sniffing distance that was close to coming into season, you can now finally rest in the knowledge that you have less competition.
8. Bibliography
Cuthbertson, A. S. 2003a.
"Ashish, a story of hope: The rehabilitation into society of a dangerous
dog". German Shepherd Dog Club of Victoria, Australia, Internet website, October 2003.
Cuthbertson, A. S. 2003b. "Recollections of our First German
Shepherd". German Shepherd Dog Club of Victoria, Australia, Internet website, November 2003.
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