Day/night 1 and reason #10 why senior dogs rock

FREEDOM RIDE!!!

So day/night 1 with Sweetie went even better than I could have hoped.  I picked Sweetie up at Knox County Animal Shelter in the afternoon, after which we commenced a couple hours of stops and errands (Thanks to Central Ohio Dog Rescue League for making this happen!!).  First stop was at the vet school where I checked out her goopy, left eye.  Not sure exactly what is going on (tear production seems fine, no ulcer), but the eye clearly has had a chronic problem and I'm hoping the ophthalmologists will do an unofficial (read: free) consult on Monday :-)

After a few more stops and a few more hours, we finally arrived home for the moment of truce - Sweetie meeting KCH.  Kitty did her standard puffed up/Halloween cat upon seeing Sweetie and Sweetie could not have cared less.  Sweetie doesn't seem to care about Kitty's existence.  Given how calm Sweetie is, I imagine that Kitty will be rubbing on her and claiming Sweetie as her own in no time.  However, I cannot guarantee that Kitty will not try some ninja moves to remove Sweetie from her favorite chair (see picture).   This chair is absolutely Kitty's favorite resting spot (and unfortunately, scratching post) and it now seems to be Sweetie's permanent hang out.  I guess Kitty will have to relinquish to one of her other spots which include the top of the chair, the arm rests of the couch, the top of the couch, the window sill, the coffee table, my bed, my desk chair, the laundry hamper.  Tough decisions.

To make a not long story even shorter, Sweetie ate her dinner, did her business outside and slept like a baby (in Kitty's favorite spot).

So this brings me to my list of top 10 reasons why senior dogs are awesome.

Reason #10: HOUSEBROKEN
Whether you want to call it housebroken (which is apparently going out of vogue), potty trained or not pissing and crapping in my house, this is an awesome advantage of having a dog that has already lived in a home.  This doesn't mean that all dogs coming from a home are housebroken or dogs that haven't lived in a home can't be easily housebroken.  However, Sweetie clearly knew where and when she supposed to do her business and held it 7 hours overnight. (didn't wan to push it longer than that on the first night!)  This, in combination with her predilection for chairs/couches, shows that she's likely pretty used to the life of a house dog.  

It's too early to claim victory, but the thought of not going through gallons of carpet cleaner or coming home to some unexpected "gifts", is awesome.  Yes, senior dogs rock!