This might be my favorite picture ever.  If you take out cute ones of my girls.  This is our second black lab Doc, who passed away a few years ago, with our first and only yellow lab Ella. They are riding on the back of Will’s four wheeler and I guess they got tired so he gave them a lift. Last week, Ella fell off the four wheeler while she, Will and Rosie (our two year old black lab) were out on our property.   She’s 12 and we’re beginning to see her decline.  She limps a little when we do our normal four mile walking route.  This spring I’ve noticed that she’s panting more heavily than she used to when we walk.  I’ve had the thought that when it gets really hot, I’m going to have to leave her at home. This breaks my heart. Ella is Frances’ dog and though she isn’t much of a hunter, she is by far the best pet we’re ever had.  She’s cuddly and loving and always wants to be right where you are.

This is her at the vet on Monday, getting x-rays and a “senior blood panel”:

And so here’s the bad news.  Our vet, Dr. Bowman, said Ella can’t ride on the back of the four wheeler anymore.  Her X-rays showed that she has really bad arthritis, especially in her knees.  She’s on “bedrest” for the next two weeks ( As if this is a new thing! She sleeps all the time.) Knowing how Will is about the dogs, I knew this wouldn’t come as good news.  I actually knew he’d probably ignore the vet’s orders.  So she wrote him a note.

“No more four wheeling.  Ella is greater than 11 years old.”

So we’ll see how that goes…