My longest sustained relationship
Today is Relampago's 14th birthday. He was rather unimpressed when I told him about it this morning, though he didn't seem to mind the tummy rub.
He seems like he's in pretty good shape for a 14 year old. He'll play with Crianza until he gets tired. He'll bark at the meanies outside. He'll snooze the day through. He'll look at me hopefully when I'm cooking something in the kitchen. He'll get in trouble for trying to sneak food when he thinks no one is looking. He'll keep his vigil by the window to make sure that we're not attacked.
It's been hard to watch him age, though. A few weeks ago, he had a little bit of trouble getting up. His rear legs just sort of had difficulty finding their footing, and he had to plop down and try again. I haven't seen that happen other than that one time, but it's another sign that he's an elderly pooch. He coughs a bit when he gets winded, which I think is from the slight heart murmur. Every now and then he'll have a bad night where he needs to go outside a lot. I have to say his name a lot more loudly these days than I did when he was younger.
And his relationship with Crianza has changed. When she was a baby puppy, he was clearly the alpha of the pack, and she let him boss her around well into her second year. But the roles have changed, and it's been hard to watch. When it first started, he wouldn't get on the bed if she was on it, though they seem to have gotten over that dispute in the last few months. Sometimes, though, I'll find her in the middle of him and the food bowls (my dogs have open choice feeding, their bowls are always down and full of food), and he'll start whimpering that he's hungry but she won't let him eat. She's always been jealous of attention that I pay to him, but now he'll defer to her when she shoves her way in between him and my hand. I have to hold him for a second to let him know that just because she doesn't want us together, I'm not going to neglect giving him love.
I know that there's nothing I can do about this. This is the way that dogs are, and I can't interfere with the social structures aside from making sure that no one gets hurt. They still play, and he'll still assert bone ownership rights. And it's not that he's lost his personality or anything like that. He's just not willing to fight anymore her over stuff he wouldn't have even given a notice to a few years ago.
It's a little easier to watch this knowing that he did the same thing to Chispa when he was a younger dog and Chispa was getting older. He'd throw his weight around quite a bit, testing the boundaries, and eventually, Chispa got old enough that she gave up on fighting him over turf.
I read a book* a long time ago that had an anecdote about a tattoo artist who specialized in dog portraits. The artist was always being hired to cover up tattoos that were dedicated to relationships that since failed. So one day, a guy comes in with an idea for a really, really stupid tatoo dedicated to his recent girlfriend, and the tattoo artist talked to him a bit about his relationships. She pointed out that his relationship with his dog was the one that never failed, the one that lasted the longest, the one that he felt the most secure in. She ended up tattooing the dog's face instead of the relationship tattoo on the guy, and a niche market for her tattoos sort of developed after that.
I loved that. I read the description shortly before I got my first tattoo (which is dedicated to my family and is another relationship that will never fail), and I decided that my next tattoo, if I still wanted it five years later (my waiting period for tattoos is at minimum five years), will be for Relampago. The five years passed in May, on my birthday. I'm not getting his face tattooed to me, but I am planning, after I run the half marathon, to have a lightning bolt, or in Spanish relámpago, tattooed to my right hip. Firework like sparks (for Chispa) will fly from the bolt down my leg, and I'll try to get some faint smoke in between the sparks that resemble the cords of pulis. Crianza will have to earn her right to a tattoo later on down the line.
Happy Birthday Relampago! Let's keep on going.
*Look at the cover for a reason as to why I'd read this book.
He seems like he's in pretty good shape for a 14 year old. He'll play with Crianza until he gets tired. He'll bark at the meanies outside. He'll snooze the day through. He'll look at me hopefully when I'm cooking something in the kitchen. He'll get in trouble for trying to sneak food when he thinks no one is looking. He'll keep his vigil by the window to make sure that we're not attacked.
It's been hard to watch him age, though. A few weeks ago, he had a little bit of trouble getting up. His rear legs just sort of had difficulty finding their footing, and he had to plop down and try again. I haven't seen that happen other than that one time, but it's another sign that he's an elderly pooch. He coughs a bit when he gets winded, which I think is from the slight heart murmur. Every now and then he'll have a bad night where he needs to go outside a lot. I have to say his name a lot more loudly these days than I did when he was younger.
And his relationship with Crianza has changed. When she was a baby puppy, he was clearly the alpha of the pack, and she let him boss her around well into her second year. But the roles have changed, and it's been hard to watch. When it first started, he wouldn't get on the bed if she was on it, though they seem to have gotten over that dispute in the last few months. Sometimes, though, I'll find her in the middle of him and the food bowls (my dogs have open choice feeding, their bowls are always down and full of food), and he'll start whimpering that he's hungry but she won't let him eat. She's always been jealous of attention that I pay to him, but now he'll defer to her when she shoves her way in between him and my hand. I have to hold him for a second to let him know that just because she doesn't want us together, I'm not going to neglect giving him love.
I know that there's nothing I can do about this. This is the way that dogs are, and I can't interfere with the social structures aside from making sure that no one gets hurt. They still play, and he'll still assert bone ownership rights. And it's not that he's lost his personality or anything like that. He's just not willing to fight anymore her over stuff he wouldn't have even given a notice to a few years ago.
It's a little easier to watch this knowing that he did the same thing to Chispa when he was a younger dog and Chispa was getting older. He'd throw his weight around quite a bit, testing the boundaries, and eventually, Chispa got old enough that she gave up on fighting him over turf.
I read a book* a long time ago that had an anecdote about a tattoo artist who specialized in dog portraits. The artist was always being hired to cover up tattoos that were dedicated to relationships that since failed. So one day, a guy comes in with an idea for a really, really stupid tatoo dedicated to his recent girlfriend, and the tattoo artist talked to him a bit about his relationships. She pointed out that his relationship with his dog was the one that never failed, the one that lasted the longest, the one that he felt the most secure in. She ended up tattooing the dog's face instead of the relationship tattoo on the guy, and a niche market for her tattoos sort of developed after that.
I loved that. I read the description shortly before I got my first tattoo (which is dedicated to my family and is another relationship that will never fail), and I decided that my next tattoo, if I still wanted it five years later (my waiting period for tattoos is at minimum five years), will be for Relampago. The five years passed in May, on my birthday. I'm not getting his face tattooed to me, but I am planning, after I run the half marathon, to have a lightning bolt, or in Spanish relámpago, tattooed to my right hip. Firework like sparks (for Chispa) will fly from the bolt down my leg, and I'll try to get some faint smoke in between the sparks that resemble the cords of pulis. Crianza will have to earn her right to a tattoo later on down the line.
Happy Birthday Relampago! Let's keep on going.
*Look at the cover for a reason as to why I'd read this book.