Submitted by nerdalesca t3_100jp4y in tifu
My dog is 16 years old. She's in reasonable health, fair bit of arthritis, slowly going deaf/ a little night blind, but she sees her vet regularly, and they're happy enough with the state of her health to allow her to continue her slow amble into her twilight years, so all is well there.
Due to the aforementioned arthritis, she has a special orthopaedic dog bed thats supposed to give her old body all the support she needs to remain comfy. She seems happy with it, but we did notice that as she can't climb onto the bed/couch anymore, she doesn't get to just chill with us as much.
This is kinda sad, especially when she's spent her whole life being as close to us as possible when we're at home. She's a Kelpie mix, so while she's not a huge dog, she's not really a lapdog either.
Until one day a couple months ago I realised if I sat in the recliner with her and leaned the recliner all the way back, she could lay across my stomach and chest and become a lap dog.
Naturally I tried this out, and she loved it. It quickly becomes a new routine - every couple of nights, after she's had her last wee before bed, we have some time on the recliner with her eventually falling asleep on my shoulder.
Having some time off from work over Christmas/new years I didn't have to worry about my own bed time as much, and could spend most nights having some cuddle time and for longer. As she's now 2 or 3 years past her life expectancy at this point, I don't mind too much - I suspect these will be moments I treasure once she finally does make her final trot over to the big dog park in the sky.
Tonight though, I thought I'd spend some time taking the last of our Christmas ornaments down, tidying up, doing a few extra chores before bed instead. And I tried - until I heard the whining. I knew she didn't need anything - at this point, she had her dinner, had after dinner garden strolls, been out for a wee, had an after dinner snack of the kibble she left over from dinner, had a last minute pee break... She should have been happy to peacefully drift off to sleep. And then I realised. She'd come to have Expectations. And by deciding to knock a few things off my to-do list instead, I was not meeting those Expectations.
So I am now typing this on my phone while a geriatric dog softly snores on my shoulder.
TL;DR: In making memories with my elderly dog, I accidentally lock myself into an expectation that I will spend upwards of 30 minutes every night letting her fall asleep on me, or else have to listen to her sing the piteous song of her people in ever increasing levels of volume and drama.
UPDATE: Thank you all for your comments! I woke up and loved reading the stories about your senior pets or pets that have passed, and I hope my very firmly tongue in cheek exasperation at creating a new ritual that revolves around my dog has brought back happy memories only.
For everyone that was disappointed that my original post wasn't an actual FU, this update is for you.
I started reading some of the comments last night, while letting her stay on top of me a bit longer than usual. I must have dozed off a little at one point, and as I'm no longer a spring chicken myself, sleeping on the recliner with a dog on top of me all night didn't strike me as a good idea.
So I scoop a now sleep drunk and floppy canine up, and put her in her own bed. She stirs enough to look up at me with those big brown eyes, melting my heart again just like she did at the shelter almost 16 years ago.
And then I realise. See, as an old lady, she's usually pretty good about telling us when she needs a wee, but like a lot of old people, she leaks sometimes, especially when she's dead asleep. And oh boy, has she gotten nice and relaxed with an extended cuddle session and snooze. At least I went to bed feeling fresh after that 3am shower.
Update TL;DR: Vindication for the people that thought this was just a wholesome post for easy karma - she relaxed too hard and she peed on me a little.