Monday, January 30, 2012

HILDA AND THE BEACH

We heard it was going to be sunny and 70 degrees on the coast this weekend - yes, in January - so we packed a picnic and went to Monterey.  We even took the dog.  In a way, we planned it for the dog.

Hilda is really showing her age, she is sleeping more and more, she is jumpy and nervous and unsteady in her feet.  She was always tail wagging happy and very puppy-like until a couple of years ago, so it is hard to see her personality so diminshed. 




We can see that her eyes are clouding over and realized about a year ago that she can't hear.  She still gets excited about going places with us, but we see that she is frightened when she is out - probably overwhelmed by what she can't see and hear.

But we wanted to have an outing and take her along.  She was great in the car, we brought her little bed and she sat and looked out the window all the way there.  Once her little paws hit the sand she was not so sure of things.  He dachshund nose was sniffing away, but she was not as intrigued with the sealife strewn over the sand as we thought she would be.  Once the blanket was spread, she was much happier.


We walked her down to the water, thinking she might get excited and run in as she did in the past, but she was tail-tucked and looking back to the blanket so we made it a quick walk.


For the 3 hours or so we were there she never relaxed. 



She did enjoy the picnic.

After Tom had a nice nap, we packed up and headed home with our little old lady.  She slept almost all the way home - when we drove up over the Sunol grade and down into our valley she smelled home, perked up and sat looking out the window the rest of the way.





5 comments:

knittergran said...

Poor girl. I love the beach and hope I always will.
They say our world gets smaller as we get older-I guess Hilda's is from now on.

Anonymous said...

We love taking our dogs with us on special outings. The cats would come camping when we had our RV. I think every animal enjoys a change of scenery. How sweet to give your 4-legged family member another trip.
Jan

shrink on the couch said...

Hilda: "there's no place like home."

Tricia said...

Our Snowy is 11 years old now and she has arthritis in the front elbows and hips. The vet put her on Rimadyl and it does seem to ease some of the discomfort.
It is hard to see them failing as they age.
Hilda is a cutey though, give her a hug for me!

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

I know just how you feel . . . I think it is true what knittergran said--as we get older we are content with a smaller world.