Age..

Having Barney here has made me realise how much older Bug is! You seem to forget that they're ageing with you..

I met her in April 2011, and the vet suspected that with the amount of litters that she'd had that she was roughly 3-4 years old. Which would now make her at least 7.. Probably coming up to 8?

Did any of you do anything differently as they got older? Bug has always been a sleepy, lazy girl in house - but is active and loves to run, she will take or leave as much or as little exercise as we can offer. In the last years or so she has tended to take herself to bed more in the evening, for some peace and quiet I suppose!

Yes mia takes and leaves her food i just leave a bowl of food and she helps herself but once the foods finished she doesnt get anything until the next day .

I changed the type of exercise I gave my older dog and tried to keep her from running too much as well as avoiding the heat so as not to put excess stress on her heart. I also paid much more attention to how much she weighed for the same reason.

my retriever is coming up for 9 this year and ive noticed the last couple of years he has started to slow down especially since having millie, he has yumove supplements highly recommend. he still does 2 hours exercise a day with no trouble

Nola is about 8 1/2, and she's (finally!!!) slowing down a bit. Translated as when she buggers off she's not gone for so long! She took off after a deer in the woods last week - it was right under her nose - and came back after only 15 minutes or so, barely able to stagger. Previously she would have been gone for an hour. So yes, it is starting to show.

Having said that, I don't really go by age, more by what the dog's saying. Mung was rickety since he was a pup, whereas Nola's day to day activity hasn't changed much. She still plays like a hoon and will walk for as long as you like, it's just with the fast stuff she's starting to show her age. So I won't change anything until she needs it.

I think they kind of tell you when they need to slow down. Flo is about 9 now and would, if she could, laze on the sofa all day long but, once we are out she will chase her Stix for as long as you will throw it or until she stops running and just saunters up to it.

When she doesn't run, that's when we stop throwing as she's clearly had enough but it doesn't happen often. Flo also gets a supplement in her food which I think helps.

yes ian i agree the joint supplement has definitely helped mia

i don't ever want my dog to get old...i still fight off the tears when i think of my previous Staffs..I can honestly say, i loved them more than 99.9% of any human i've ever loved..and that's the truth..
Our old Staffs both lived to be almost 19...we used to give them cod liver oil as they got older and were careful about the exercise, particularly the amount of hard pavement walking.