A Hospice Tale, of Smoky and Mr. P

Five years ago, I accepted a bedraggled, abused, elderly (enormous), shaggy, frightened, shell-shocked male Malamute, whom his rescuers dubbed"Nobel," into my home. He was in sad shape when he was rescued: a groomer shaved 30 lbs of matted fur. He was weak and aloof. Rescuers thought he might have six months to live; I was able to stretch that out to 20...

And I changed his "home" name to Smoky or Mr. Smokes because of his grey, black and white coloring, and because he moved so silently through the house. 

Smokes was, expectably, not house-trained (at first, though he learned pretty fast). But at first, not so much; so I attached a bell to his collar. I'm a light sleeper so I could hear the bell when, at night, he started moving around. Movement usually portended the need to excrete. This enabled me to prevent many "accidents" by directing him outside. 

Eventually--after close to a year--he began to warm to me, but he never became "affectionate, though we did learn to play, especially after NMDOG, the rescuers, sent along a "companion,"  a young, tri-pod husky named Tasha, who taught Smokes to "dog" all over again. He was doing very well, until his hind legs started to fail him.

Smoky went on ahead in August 15, 2018. I kept Tasha until April, 2019, when I shattered the humerus in my left arm and could no longer keep up with her, and I had to relinquish her back to NMDOG. Sometime later, NMDOG recovered Piggums, who came to me as a hospice in June, 2019.

There are things to know about animal "hospice. The situation is fraught. Abused dogs require a long time to re-acquire the capacity to trust humans, and it will try your patience. 

Don't let it:
1: When accepting a hospice dog, don't expect them to take to you like a puppy would. Older dogs will have "human trust" issues which may be resolved in time, but may not. In 18 months, Smoky never rolled over for a belly rub, because exposing yer belly isn't easy for a dog. He was starting to be more affect-ionate (stet) in hisa last summer. I've had Mr. Piggums for 18 mos, and he's still reluctant, though he can be cajoled.

2) The "Loss" Thing

I've thought about this a lot. Before anyone accepts a hospice dog, one MUST accept that "losing" such a companion in the relatively foreseeable future is an inevitable part of the deal. You HAVE to have that knowledge before you take in an old or injured fur-being. It cannot intrude in loving them, because that's what you're THERE for: love and comfort.

Related: Over the many years of having dogs and their meeting their sad but necessary departures, I've found it really helpful to regard these duties the way the Hopi regard the deaths of their elders: They are going (and I am sending them) on ahead.