guilty about not treating my dog right

[hugues]

@pawkiki Its a nice story to read. It's in a way so easu to make our pups happy, right? Our love, our time with them.

 

[jesuslovesyou69]

@amusingmargaret i had this exact issue. we grew up with a small family dog and she wasnt treated the best, being around so many kids. but as i grew older i kind of claimed her as mine specifically and she really clung to me. there is so much i wish i did different but i cant blame myself because i was a child then.

in my dogs last years, i was almost an adult and then was one so i was caring a lot more carefully. what you can do now is make sure your elderly dog eats, makes sure they have clean water, make sure they can access their bed, get taken out a lot. look for signs of arthritis, brush their teeth, give them love and comfort. i used to have to help my elderly dog lay down at night because her arthritis was so bad she would get stuck in a loop of pacing. she was about 17.

just watch your dog a lot and make sure they are ok. thats what i did. watch for the small signs of maybe not eating, or not drinking, or having more accidents than usual. just remember that they cant speak what they want, so if something is wrong, youre the one to have to figure it out for them. having elderly dogs takes a lot of effort but its worth it in the end.

 

[amusingmargaret]

@jesuslovesyou69 this is very helpful, not only to know other ppl have experienced it but your advice too. i’ll have to do a lot of research, i wish these things were considered before getting a dog. thank you

 

[jesuslovesyou69]

@amusingmargaret youre welcome. its a very sad experience. the last memories of my dog at home, i was holding her body up because she couldnt stand well, and i was holding a bowl of chicken broth for her to drink because she had no teeth. id sometimes wet some kibble so she could eat it. she had no control of her bowels, so i was constantly cleaning up after her and my room smelled bad, but i couldnt get mad at her because i loved her so much.

the best advice i have is when your dog looks like they have more pain than happiness, and you dont think itll go away, you should let them have the release. when my dog was too miserable, not even pottying outside anymore, not being able to eat, barely able to walk, i gave her the release. because she deserved it. i knew she was too old and weak to heal, so i let her go.

 

[trendchaser]

@amusingmargaret The biggest punishment for a dog is being denied to live with its family imho. Except for very special cases, where your dog is responsible for other animals and was bred to make his own decisions (guard dogs).
So maybe think about letting the dog live inside in general.

 

[faithlord]

@trendchaser I think OP wants the dog inside, but the issue is his family won’t allow it. Same thing was the case with my childhood dog. Only time she was consistently inside was when she kept escaping the yard, so she lived inside a cage in the basement. It was horrible.