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We've been dogless since October when we lost Maggie; first time in 40 years there have only been humans in the house. Between winter and cracking up my knee in December, we weren't in a rush for any new canine companions. A month or so ago we started casually looking around on petfinder to see if there were was anybody who looked interesting. Went to see a four month old small lab mix at a nearby shelter, but we had also spotted Raffi online and decided he needed our help more than puppy did. Raff is a 14 year old pup who found himself in need of a place to land in his senior years. He was surrendered to a shelter that has relationships with various rescues that foster dogs, so he wasn't in the shelter for very long. Poor guy, he had been with his original family for his entire life. Story is (and you never know if it's true) that the family moved to an apartment that doesn't allow dogs. No judgments here; they might have been in financial distress and had to go where they could afford to. At least they took him to a good shelter instead of dumping him on the street somewhere. His foster parents, who had him for about a month, said he's a pretty chill doggy who doesn't seek attention and is just happy to be near whoever is home. He has arthritis that I think bothers him quite a bit so doesn't move very fast, but he does still like to take walks. He is a bit sensitive to being touched in some areas and can get a little grumpy. We'll be working with our vet to see what we can do to help on the pain front. He's pretty old even for a smaller breed dog, so we have no idea how long we'll have him. He seems to have settled in pretty well in just a day at the wtg Home For Seniors. We'll just give him a comfy place to land in peace and quiet for the rest of his senior years. Meet Raffi: 
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| (self-titled) semi-posting lurker Minor Deity  |
Awww! It's great of you to take in a dog that you know you'll need to say goodbye to sooner than new pet owners usually expect. <3 <3 <3
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| Pinta & the Santa Maria Has Achieved Nirvana  |
What a sweetheart, and how wonderful for you to adopt a senior dog! My daughter adopted a 12-year old miniature dachshund about 2 years ago. When I first met him I had my doubts, as he had separation anxiety, was a picky eater, had arthritis, was very wary, and just generally seemed unhealth/unhappy. He, too, was in his original family (with another female and one of their kids!) his whole life. The 3 went together to a shelter and Buddy was the remaining of the trio. Flash forward two years. He's funny, happy, healthy, a total character and the light of my daughter's life. Raffi is lucky to have you! | |||
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Minor Deity |
Good for you and lucky dog. We rescued a 12 year old lab whose elder owner passed away. She has been an amazing dog. Jf
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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana  |
Welcome to the extended family, Raffi. That’s not very different from how we ended up with Rusty and Cocoa. Their mom was out of work and lost her living arrangement and was moving in with a relative and couldn’t keep the cats (probably allergies). She put a an ad on Craigslist and a few hours later, we had cats, and the cats had a home.
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Minor Deity |
That's very sweet. We have been considering fostering seniors. It's tough to lose them but they have such a hard time placing them. Somehow I can relate to that more at this age. 
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Minor Deity |
So, chez WTG is a place that takes in and spoils needy seniors? Asking for a friend… (I love the picture. I am hoping there will be lots of follow ups). | |||
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wtg, Good on you, as the Aussies would say.
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Congratulations to Raffi, and good for you. | |||
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Looks like a sweet dog! Housebroken? Glucosamine/chondroiten worked pretty well on our arthritic Terrier mix. OTC, cheap, and our vet recommended it.
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He's housebroken and sleeps through the night without having to get up. Foster mom said he had a couple of daytime accidents at their house, but I think that was because they weren't paying enough attention to him. If he can make it through the night, there's nothing wrong with his kidneys or bladder. We are treating him like a puppy for the first week or so, getting him out every couple of hours or whenever he wakes up from a nap. Just got off the phone with our vet; he's such a great guy (and totally crazy, but that's another story). Raffi is on one med for the arthritis and should have been getting a second one but wasn't because of a misunderstanding on the part of the foster mom. We're started him on that today. His blood work is typical old dog (somewhat elevated kidney and liver enzymes that won't be helped by the pain meds), but Chris' attitude was "don't worry about it - let's just get him comfortable". Good idea on the glucosamine/chondroitin, Steve. Haven't had arthritic dogs before so I'm learning the ropes. Will definitely keep it in mind. We are also going to "loop" him. https://assisianimalhealth.com/assisi-loop/ We already have an Assisi loop that we were using with one of our goldens when she pulled a muscle. We'll try it on Raff's hips to see if it helps. I used it on my injured knee and it worked wonders.
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We are a full service facility (home cooked food instead of kibble), but generally speaking I think the food and libations are better at Chez Mik.....
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| Minor Deity |
Yer friend housebroken? Jf
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