Colt turned 8 this summer and is really getting old too fast.  Anyway, we (Amanda and I) have been trying to keep ourselves and the dogs in shape by walking in the forest behind her house.  It's basically a two-mile hunt for the dogs and us under fairly typical New England conditions.  Woods, rocks, thorns and swamps.



Colt keeps up with the others pretty well, but afterwords he usually comes up lame.  Last weekend, we tried a few new things to help keep him healthy.  First we put him on Zubrin, a doggy pain-killer available by prescription only.  Then at the half-way point, I put Colt on a leash to 1) give him about half the running as the others, and 2) give him a proper cool-down.  (He looked at me with those sad eyes and towards the end of the walk was itching to run again.)  I also fed him upon return to put some nutrition in his system. 

Everything was swell until it came time to leave.  Colt slipped on the linoleum and came up lame again.  It's always the way.  Last time he fell off the couch.  He gets clumsy when he's tired and does something stupid.

The Zubrin seems to help quite a bit.  He walks fine when he's on it, although he hasn't been trying to launch onto the bed.  I thought he was OK and stopped giving it yesterday and he was limping last night.  So he's back on it for a while.

If you have an older dog, I suggest seeing your vet.  You might get more bang out of him this fall in the woods, or one more season out of his all-to-short life.  Just be careful.  Since the dog doesn't feel the pain, he might be tearing something up.  Better to keep track of how much activity he should have and stick to that program.

The one thing I don't like (so far) about Zubrin is the tablet.  It's this light, thin, wafer-like disk.  It breaks into jagged pieces most of the time.  The latest jagged little pill.  When it doesn't break, its almost an inch wide.  I'd prefer a caplet style pill.