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Follow IG @old.man.owen

Well, we've had our Old Man Owen for a wee bit over a year now and shoot, I didnt think we would make it this long. But we feel so blessed that we did!

Since coming to live with us, our whole lives have been made so much better. He's my best friend and our "dog soul mate" as my daughter puts it. While his age is definitely starting to show itself more, his eyes are going and as a result cannot do stairs anymore.

So now we have our morning go down stairs dance. I let Bruce (NDR's Lucky Boy) outside for safety, then meet Owen at the top of the stairs, where he "runs" to one of his beds (there's 8 to pick from) and sits. I then have to leave and start all over until he let's me pick him up.
His arthritis is getting worse, but we do our best to make him comfortable.

There is so much love and appreciation that shines through his eyes even though they're getting cloudy.
He's the highlight of each of my days, and everyone makes us love him more.

We've always known our time with him would be shorter than we would like, but I think that's just made us appreciate all his little Owen'isms more. Like the way his ears flap in the wind and when he tries to run with his friends.

We adopted Owen not expecting him to make it long after a failed adopter was told that he was dying. We took him in while I was a volunteer with NDR and were expecting the worst. But in the short time we had him as a "foster" it became clear no matter what he was our baby, so we foster failed, kind of.

I hope that my words have made you think about adopting or fostering a senior pup. There is truly nothing more rewarding than coming home to my sweet Old Man each day (never mind the husband!) and getting one of his hugs .

Owen has an Instagram page if anyone is interested in following @old.man.owen

Ashleigh Thompson