Wow, has it really been three years since our last blog post? So much has happened in AJ’s life in those three years. Time to get caught up.

We moved! Our last post was in August 2021. In October of that same year, we moved to a new house. We all know dogs aren’t crazy about change. But AJ isn’t just any dog. We made our first big move with him when he was four years old, and he barely batted an eye. Yay, a new place to explore! For this move AJ was nine. It was a little more stressful. But he rediscovered a favorite toy and carried it with him everywhere while we were packing and moving, which seemed to comfort him. He again settled in nicely and loves his new home. We let him lead us around on walks, and he took us exploring and continually discovering new places to go and things to see in our new neighborhood.

AJ doesn’t go to camp anymore. About a year after we moved we decided to go on vacation, and AJ had to stay behind. For years we had been sending him to camp, which he loved. But camp isn’t quite as much fun when you get older. When we picked AJ up, the owner of the dog camp filled us in on how AJ did while we were away:

• He hung out by himself the whole time, staying away from the other dogs.
• When it was time to go into a crate for meals or bedtime, AJ refused. He threw such a fit in the crate the owner was afraid AJ would hurt himself and had to take him out.
• Because he wouldn’t eat in the crate, AJ was put into a large room alone with his food. But he wouldn’t eat while he was alone. So someone had to sit with him and wait for him to eat every time he was fed.

Needless to say, this wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience for AJ or for the owner of the camp. We needed another solution. Fortunately between neighbors and family members we’ve now found some trustworthy, reliable, and completely fabulous dog sitters to come live in our home with AJ while we’re away. (Thank you Linda, Ginger, and Adam!) AJ loves them all, and they all love AJ. (Really, who doesn’t love AJ?)

More vet visits. AJ has continued to have more than his share of vet visits. One of his more notable visits came after he developed a serious limp as a result of jumping off a six foot retaining wall because it was the quickest was to get to a cat that was walking across the fence.

He gave me a slight heart attack when he jumped off the retaining wall, but that’s nothing compared to the scare he gave us in May of this year (2024). Through a series of events and a couple of trips to the emergency vet, it was discovered that AJ had a large mass on his spleen. These are very often fatal. Without dragging out the story and getting into the gory details, I’ll just say that we spent several days terrified that we were going to lose him. But he had surgery to remove the mass and his spleen, and my strong, healthy boy recovered beautifully. He went right back to being his old self.

At 12 years old AJ is slowing down a little bit. He’s losing his hearing. One thing that means is that he doesn’t immediately wake up if I leave the room. But if he wakes up and I’m not there he worries and starts running around trying to find me. So I find myself either waiting to get up until he wakes from his nap, or waking him up to tell him I’m leaving the room. (Yes, I’ve had to wake up my dog to tell him “I’m going to the bathroom.”) He has to be on medication to manage his arthritis, and his endurance isn’t quite what it used to be. But we still go on long walks, he still chases rabbits and keeps the cats out of our yard, and he’s still enjoying every moment he gets to be out exploring. He still makes us laugh and makes friends everywhere he goes.

That’s our update. Maybe it won’t be another three years before I get in here with another one.