Current mutt is 14 years old, and beginning to fall about a bit at the rear end, so we're beginning to realise he won't last forever. He fell down the stairs just after Christmas, so now there's a plywood gate blocking them off.
Thought his time was up a couple of months ago, when we found weeping tumours around his rear. Took him on what we expected to be a one way trip to the vet, but it turned out the tumours were benign and operable, so one arm and a leg later (ours), he's back as he was again, although looking ridiculous with a bald rear end and tail in contrast to the rest of his scruffy long coat.
Sitting here writing this with tears in my eyes.
My poor dog, Max, is just short of 17 years old, and has become more and more wobbly on his legs, but has always managed to struggle to his feet and get around, following my wife everywhere she goes that he can . That was until last Monday afternoon, when we realised that he'd been in his bed ever since he'd ventured outside for five minutes earlier that day. we found that he could no longer stand, or even sit up, and he's been lying on his side, on a quilt, on the carpet, with his head on a pillow ever since.
He doesn't appear to be in any pain, will happily eat any biscuits, chicken or ham that you hold close to his mouth, but flatly refuses to drink any water, even moving his head away if I wet my finger and brush it against his lips.
I suspect that, in his doggy mind, he's decided that it's time to go, and soon I expect that he will drift into unconsciousness, from which he'll never wake, and finally pass away a day or so later.
There's a large clump of ornamental grass at the top of the garden, that he's always undertaken to keep well watered, so I'll soon be up there with my little JCB digger, digging a grave for him a full six feet deep, so that he can remain there, undisturbed for ever.