Poodle thoughts

My beloved poodle’s world seems to be shrinking.

He had a bought of kennel cough recently. I learned that kennel cough is basically the same as a “cold” - it’s one of many possible respiratory things. Usually antibiotics clear it up. It took about three weeks for the cough to clear up. While he was actively sick he was disinterested in long walks. Fair. No one wants to work out when sick.

As far as I can tell, he’s well. Antibiotics completed, cough is gone, But he’s still very satisfied to wander around the front yard in the morning, maybe across the street to the neighbor’s yard, sniff all the things and return to the couch.

The hard fact to acknowledge is that his walks have gotten shorter and shorter. It’s not just the kennel cough. He will still muster the energy to go for a run with my wife from time to time. But on the whole, he’s becoming a homebody.

His once jet-black curly fur is now a stately charcoal. His chin is properly grey. His feet are greying. To the best of our knowledge, he’s 8 ½ years old. The documents we received during adoption have conflicting dates, so we can only guess. We just add 1 to his age every November 2nd, the day he came home.

He’s getting older, and he’s probably old for his age given his Addison’s disease.

I suspect that he knows that stressful situations are bad for him. As he’s gotten older, perhaps he’s less interested in excitement and more introspective.

I rely on his walks to get me out of the house and into the neighborhood. This recent change has me very familiar with my front yard. I need to sweep the walk way, but it’s raining.