Personal Note: Rosie Turns Twelve

For regular readers of Ashes From Burnt Roses, you will remember my Black Labrador Retriever, Rosie.  I have posted on her through the years, especially on her birthdays.  There are some great pictures and videos of her through the years in those posts.  It tugs at my heartstrings to recall them.

Last week on the twelfth, Rosie turned twelve years old.  She is now our longest living dog.  For nostalgia's sake, here are the life spans of our three dogs.

	Birth	Death	Life Span	Days
Sasha	Oct 5, 1991	July 18, 2003	11 Yrs, 9 Mths, 13 Days	4,305 Days
Brandi	Nov 4, 2003	Dec 1, 2013	10 Yrs, 27 days	3,681 Days
Rosie	Aug 12, 2014	Still Living!	12 Yrs, 7 days & Counting	4,390+ Days

We loved them all.

Rosie is still kicking!  To my surprise.  She had a bunch of ailments as a young dog.  She had Lyme Disease.  We were not as strict with her on the heartworm pills, and after Covid we rarely took her to the veterinarian unless it was an emergency.  She was not kept up on her shots, and frankly I wonder how good all those shots are.  She had seizures last year but it’s been a while since the last one.  She had and continues to have all sorts of benign growths, some very large.  Right now she as a growth on the right side of her chest about the size of three-inch-thick paperback, ten by six inches.  One large growth several years ago was on her rear end, and it grew so big that it obstructed her anus.  It had to be removed.  The surgeon said it came out as one large ball and it was all benign.  We suspect that large growth on her chest is benign also.

For the past year she has struggled with arthritis in her hips.  She hasn’t tried to run in over six months.  The video I posted on her eleventh birthday may have been the last time she ran.  It’s a struggle for her to go up and down the stairs.  Going up the stairs I have to help her rear half by placing one arm under her belly and the other on her backside pushing up and forward.  Once I give her a push she gets into a rhythm, pulling her back legs up the stairs as she pulls herself with her front legs.  We took her to the vet in April and he did not recommend any medication.  She also showed up with reduced kidney function in her blood test. 

At some point after her eleventh birthday, I started counting down the months to her twelfth hoping she would get there.  And she did!  It sounds depressing but she remains a happy dog. 

She, as all our pets, have been blessings to us.

We got her a floor mattress thinking she would prefer not to climb onto the couch.  In her doggy logic she refuses to lay on the floor mattress.  The best we could do was coax her to lay her head on it.

And guess who took over the mattress?  Tiger!  LOL.

She still gets on the couch, mostly by herself but sometimes with a little help.

 Being silly!

And with Rochelle.

In the snow in February. 

Here at the Vet in April.

Here is her most recent picture on her birthday last week.

 

Happy Birthday Rosie!