I just wanted to proudly share a new picture I just got of one of my first foster dogs who is amazingly still going strong at the ripe old age of 17 years. She came to me at three months old with her leg in cast. It wasn't a surprise how it got that way - that girl was a runner. I had to keep the front door and back garden gate locked tighter than a high security prison and always have her leashed before anyone came in or left. Clever little girl! After weeks and weeks of physical therapy, the vets finally determined that her leg couldn't be saved. We were all so heartbroken as the whole team had tried so hard. None of us wanted to see her as a tripod if it could be helped, but it just couldn't. They said she'd probably need to stay overnight after the surgery to manage the pain. Two hours after the surgery was meant to start, I got a phone call. "Come and get Clarice - she is up and running around like a crazy dog, happy as a clam." And so she was - that dog couldn't have said it clearer, "What took you all so long to get with the picture and get rid of that leg I never needed to begin with? I'm so HAAAPPPPPPYYYYY now!". A couple months later, I had a meeting at my house with a new landscaper. Clarice, who was a rather independent girl and not all that cuddly despite being a sweetheart, came up on the sofa between us and laid her paw and then her head on the landscaper's leg. That was all she wrote...doggie adoption heaven. Clarice became Clare and the landscaper became one of my best friends. Clare was a best buddy to my Duncan, Mama Jodhi and most of all Brogan, and has outlasted them all. She's a little slower but darn it if she still doesn't try to wander away if you don't keep an eagle eye on her. Here's the new pic of her at 17 in her humans' sink in their new house they just finished building, plus a couple throwback pics with young Brogan.
What a star - she doesn't look 17! Lovely photos of her with Brogan too, particularly where she's peering out under his tummy.
What a smashing-looking dog, and what a fantastic story you tell. She sounds like a hoot! I'm so glad that she's had a fantastic life and that she found a wonderful human. Lovely photos as always
Great pictures! Warmed my heart up on this miserable thursday!!!!! Thanks Emily. What a super dog tough little lady going at 17! She looks bigger next to brogan than she appears to be in the sink!
I always think of her as little as when I got her she was a pretty small piece of white fluff. She's about 18 lbs and Brogan was 70 lbs. But she does look bigger than she actually is in that last pic with Brogan on the rock. Her mama took that one - maybe she photoshopped it!
Ah Emily,you have so got a book of dog stories in you .Every one you tell us about sounds a right character xxx
Her face has gone completely white where she used to be cream-colored all over - that really the only thing that shows except being slower. I can't believe she is 17 either - it's rather amazing to me that she and Duncan used to play together and he's been gone 14 years. She's a tough cookie!
