Today my dog officially becomes a senior citizen.    At least in my eyes.  I guess 7 is the magic number when dog food changes from ‘adult’ to ‘senior’ status.   He’s been on that diet for awhile now.

Taking the general rule of thumb of 7 years to our 1, that puts him around the age of 56.

Regardless, today is his birthday and I’m making this entry in honor of the dog who has always been… ‘my good boy.’   

It’s times like this that I wish I’d taken more opportunity to photograph things during his puppy years.    Just no pictures of the ‘little’ Dax exist.   :(   I remember when he could fit in my lap.

I guess, at this point, calling him old man is now both age-appropriate, and star-trek-appropriate.   

(It’s what I get for naming him after a Trill.)

It has been in recent weeks I’ve noticed him starting to feel his age.   He sleeps a bit more than before, isn’t as quick to exit the crate when he hears me stirring in the bed, and, well, he has gray hair in his face now.   All in all, he just seems ever so slightly more tired and worn down.    It was really apparent the other day when we were playing fetch.  Anyone that knows Dax knows that your arm will fall off before he’s had his fill.   Except no longer.   He actually took a time out to relax and catch his breath after about twenty minutes.    (I know!  Crazy talk!)

It makes me sad.  I figure I’ve got at least another eight years with him.   If I do right by him in terms of diet and such, probably longer.   Yet still, he’s getting old, and that means changes in him…   changes I’m not really all that happy about, but time is what it is, and one can’t really halt the progress.

Made him a special breakfast today… which he didn’t eat.   (At least not before I went to work… hopefully he enjoyed it after-the-fact.   I can never be sure, though, that some little sister of his didn’t come steal his treat when I wasn’t looking…. he’s far too obliging to his pack mates in that regard… he dwarfs them and yet still lets them run the show.)     He has a few more birthday treats in store when I get home, however.

And a rousing game of tug-of-war…  

Happy Birthday Big Dog!