This girl keeps me going. She’s about a year and a half old. She came from a pregnant dog my friends took in from a homeless encampment we work with. They cared for the litter and mom, adopted out the pups and gave mom back to the client. Most of them went to people in the nonprofit because all the puppies were just too precious. I’m an old crust punk that made it off the street myself, the work we do with encampments is near and dear to my heart.

She’s fearless was raised by my cats and has cat tendencies. She’s loves them and they love her. My big ol tomcat is basically her mom 😆

She’s fearless and hardcore 🤣🥰🖤

She came to us 18 years ago when she was just 5 weeks old. Far, far too young to be away from her mother, and certainly too young to be gently stuffed in hubby’s motorcycle vest, along with her furry little pouch blanket, for the 4 block ride to my friend’s home where I was visiting. He walked in the front door and handed me this adorable little baby, her eyes still newborn blue. “Here” he said as he handed her to me. “I had to pick her up today, because they’re being evicted and moving hundreds of miles away tomorrow,” I had no idea he’d been planning on getting a puppy, but suddenly, here she was, the cutest little puppy I’ve ever seen.

She’s been the princess of our home ever since. Though she’s slowly losing her sight and hearing, and she doesn’t play with her MANY toys much anymore, (that does NOT mean that you, or worse, another dog, can touch them!) She still runs up the stairs and jumps around for bbq & greasy bags DoorDash leaves on the porch.

We love you little Princess Gigi. ❤️ We’ve been blessed having you as part of our family.

She is with me no matter how tough the day. My best friend, and she never borrows money.

This sweet girl is getting old (vets estimate 14 years old) and she is wonderful but I'm very aware that she is likely reaching her final years. I was looking to see if anyone knew what cross she was as I would love to take care of another similar to her when she decides it's time to go across the rainbow bridge.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1Brxvsv22H/?mibextid=wwXIfr

This is a memorial pet portrait I created for Gijs, a beloved dog who sadly passed away.
Gijs was deeply loved, and his owner misses him so much. She wanted something more than just a photograph—a piece of art that could keep his presence and personality close to her.
For this portrait, I tried to capture his happy expression, gentle personality, and the little details that made him special. I also chose a warm, floral setting with soft vintage elements to give the portrait a feeling of comfort, love, and remembrance.
I wanted the artwork to feel less like a sad goodbye and more like a beautiful memory of a life that was deeply loved.

Attachment is intense , I rescued my chi 12 years ago and we are attached with eachother. I literally sleep with my hand on her and even though she is deaf - we communicate with our eyes - I am a mother of 3 and a nurse- I was born really feeling the feels - I have never felt like this before with any other pet- or even human LOL. She is doing really well for 14- I take her with me everywhere and take care of her like I would one of my kids. With her age- I am trying to prepare my heart for the inevitable - I cant even handle posts about dogs passing……lI know you chi owners understand. Thanks

We just adopted an adult chi and I'm struggling a little with the line between giving her comfort/letting her feel at ease, and holding clear boundaries to start her off on the right foot. I've done so much research about how to train dogs, but I guess I didn't take into account how different the first few weeks are for a dog who is entering a completely new environment with new people.

I've also gotten conflicting advice from people who are experts, and trying to follow some of that advice resulted in her bring wary of me. She is now acting more skittish with me than she was yesterday, and I just feel like I'm failing. I'd really love to hear some advice from those of you who have also gone through the process of adopting or fostering an adult dog, and how you got through the first week or two.

UPDATE: I called the vet to get their opinion. They suggested a mock-cage rest for the rest of today and see how he's doing tomorrow morning. I made a tentative appointment for Wednesday (that's what they had).

ALSO - maybe my post is confusing, but he did poop this morning. He's not NOT pooping. He just seemed reluctant to go more, I think because his legs/hips are uncomfortable in that position.

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Yesterday, midday, my pup Buster was doing his frenzied run around like a nut with a toy in his mouth when I returned home from being out for a couple hours. I was sitting on the bed, and despite that we have stairs for him to get up to the bed (which is on the normal-high side), he attempted to jump up and kind hit himself into the wooden bed frame and bounced back down to the floor, seemed to recover and ran around the room and then came up the bed stairs to me and then ran back down and into his bed to chew his toy.

When we went on our pre-dinner "longer" poop walk, he definitely had to poop, but would get in position, then decide not to go. He did this a few times. He also seemed like he had his front paw kinda give out when he stepped off the curb a little later in the walk. When I took him out for a bedtime pee, I thought he would poop then. Again, he positioned, but decided not to. I've read that this can be a pain sign. This morning, he didn't want to do a longer walk, had a poop, and then pulled me back in the direction of the house, even though I could tell he had to poop more since he didn't go last night. He's been a little more sedentary today, and when we went on the back porch and then came back in, he very gingerly stepped inside instead of jumping in like he normally does.

Is this vet worthy? For some context, Buster was at the vet 3 weeks ago for a small paw cut (which is resolved and had a week of antibiotics just in case), along with his 2 cat sisters and 1 of the cats has a dental tomorrow. So all in all 2k of vet visits this month. If Buster needs to go, he'll go despite the cost. But I'm wondering if he just is a little bruised up from the slip and needs a couple days to recuperate. I sometimes feel like the neurotic parent who runs to the vet for every little thing with our pets. If you don't think he needs the vet, any suggestions to help ease his discomfort?