Our 11-year-old poodle mix, Boise, is showing his age. He’d be 77 in human years, I guess, if the old 7X rule of thumb still applies.
He’s missing a couple of incisors. His fur looks like ’70s shag carpeting in need of a good raking. And sometimes when he lifts his right leg to eliminate in the backyard, his left leg vibrates. (Honestly, mine would, too.)
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These telltale signs of physical aging are not the end of it. There are also mood swings. Sometimes Boise runs to the back door and barks his head off — the canine equivalent of shouting, “GET OFF MY LAWN, YOU CREEP!” — for no reason.
When he is begging for nibbles off my strawberry Pop-Tart, he gets impatient and issues a sharp bark that sounds like a direct order. As if to say, “GIVE ME A LITTLE BITE — YOU HORRIBLE HUMAN!”