Old Dogs and Bribery

Due to chemo (I blame everything on chemo) and old age, my eye sight has become increasingly bad.  Today, I was up in my sewing room and saw something moving in the meadow.  I thought it was a fox and then realized it is my old dog.  Every since Riley was a puppy he has gotten wanderlust in the spring. Even though he is fourteen this doesn't seem to have changed.  He can make a jailbreak from the yard through pinholes.  He is entirely deaf and almost blind, so Hoover and I wandered to the meadow to rescue him.  He is blundering through brambles and sticks, catching his feet and having a terrible time.  He has now been puffing and chuffing for half an hour, old man is in terrible shape. It doesn't help that every time Riley wants to go in or out the cat feels the need to rush in front of him.  He can't see the cat so naturally steps on him every time.  He always has a befuddled look as to why there is always a mad cat in his space.  It makes me so sad to see him this way. 

My friend's son told her their dog was the secret keeper and wondered where all the secrets would go when the dog died.  I think that is the best description of a good dog. Think of how much solace Riley has provided.  How many tears he has comforted.  How many celebrations, joys and changes he has witnessed.  How many years he has lived for our family and kept all our secrets.  I know these aren't complete sentences, but put all together, they are a complete story of our dog.  Uber dog deserves a biscuit and so does his equally uber brother. 

Every now and then I decide it will be easier if I take all the kids to an appointment at the same time.  This is always a bad decision.  Any combination other than three works well, but I seem to be a slow learner or a masochist.  Here is the picture of all three kids getting physicals at the same time.  It is good that they have a very patient physician.  This was a situation where even a good bribe didn't help the sillies.