I'm tired of winter

It's been a long winter for McAllister. We've had many more cold days, snowy days, and icy days.

The fact that (as far as we can figure out) Mac is now 15 years old means he isn't taking the weather and the season as resiliently as he did even a year ago. His heart is still in it, most of the time. It's just his spine and his rear legs, which have started to give out under the stress of the cold and his advanced age. (Yes, that would be about 105 in people years. It's even longer in Collie years.)

With some problems holding himself up in the back (and for that matter, holding some other things in), it was time to visit the Vet today.

The good news: we can try some simple medications with Mac to see if it helps his stability and his "self-control." Dr. Rich was very encouraging, and also very understanding that 15 years is a lot of time for a dog's life to carry.

The bad news: Dang, he's furry! Our good friend Caroline O., from church, who works at the Vet's office, got the lovely task of shaving away some of the more egregious fur from various mostly-untouched places on McAllister ("behind the ears" was one of the more mentionable ones). It truly was like sheep-shearing, and I'm sure the fleece would have fetched a handsome price!

When we got him home, it was time for a bath. No photos of the washing, but here's a slide show of the drying:



We hope that this regimen will help; Dr. Rich said we'll know in about a week if the medication is doing him any good. But in the meantime, he's as smart and attentive as he has ever been, and we're glad for his company.

Just a quiet dog

I spoke with my parents yesterday (the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday) and was startled when my Dad mentioned that there had not been anything here from McAllister in quite some time. My Mom follows Mac's doings (hi, Mom!).

There's nothing wrong; McAllister has just been a much quieter dog in the last couple of months. He did have a terrific time yesterday welcoming guests and making sure that any surplus food didn't stay in one place too long.

But no worries -- he's thinking about his next entry as he lies quietly on the floor near my chair, and Mac will blog again.

Baa - Ram - Ewe: Mac at work

We got to see Mac at his herding best while on vacation.

Fortunately, we had a camera with us.

Enjoy the slideshow…

Safe and restful sleep…sleep…sleep…

Not much to say about this. I think the grooming is wearing Mac out!

I found him in the hallway, eyelids open, eyes rolled up into his head, twitching and snoring. He didn't stir as I walked by. I actually had the Milk Bone in my hand already.

He didn't notice when I laid it on his snout, nor did he hear me get the camera. Not even the flash woke him up.

It was about five minutes later, when I was getting ready to upload this photo, that McAllister came to his senses. Even then, he pushed the biscuit aside until I made a formal offer of it to him.

The Molting o' the Collies Observed in Cheshire

For the past month I feared we were overfeeding McAllister. He just seemed to be, well—swelling. He was very substantial, let's say. Just a lot of beam presented to the world.

Then, at the Labor Day gathering my family has every year in Vermont, a rat terrier named "Cain" (yes, he probably used to have a brother named "Abel," but he took care of that) thought he'd stir things up by taking a nip at McAllister's ribs.

He came away with a mouthful of fur and a puzzled expression. McAllister didn't even flinch, nor did he grace Cain with any acknowledgment that he had noticed it. Cain didn't try it again.

Since he wasn't wearing Kevlar body armor, nor is he insensitive to touch, there had to be another explanation for why Cain's little teeth made no mark on our Mac. It was all in the fur. In particular, it was in the fur that seemed to be just popping off him that warm summer's afternoon. He had feathers!

All these tan and white "feathers" turn out to be McAllister's summer shed, come just a bit too late for him to be comfortable this year. I took a deep breath and brushed him thoroughly last evening—a two-hour-plus process.

Careful as I assuredly was, Mac wasn't so happy about it. Even though he really doesn't have much else to do, he kept hinting that there were flocks to get in, a coyote at the gate, fresh food being dropped by one-year-olds on the kitchen floor—all of which were much more important than his silly old coat. Didn't I understand that he needed to be free to attend to his duties?

Our little pas de deux resulted in a much more svelte collie and a 13-gallon trash bag filled with last year's undercoat. I was sorry to tell him this morning (wait for it…) we're not done yet. Still, he's much better off today than he was last evening.

Did we mention the squeak?

I bet the most frequent lead-off sentence for blogs is: "Sorry that I haven't posted in a while."

But I am. Really.

Mr. McAllister has really settled into his "retirement home" here. At first he was happy to eat and sleep and stretch his legs from time to time.

As he got more acclimated to The Home, though, he did what I imagine many "grey lions" do — he looked around and said, "I'm not washed up. No, sir! I'm a collie, by golly, and I may sleep 16 hours a day, but I know how to do collie things!"

So, he looked around for animals to herd. Although there are bison just down the road, the only animals in our household (besides him) are of the two-legged variety.

When we're home, we don't like being rounded up and nudged from room to room.

So, Alison found some stuffed sheep toys, made specifically for dogs, at the local market. She didn't have high hopes necessarily that Mac would like a piece of woolly cloth in his mouth, but the price was right.

McAllister took a look and a sniff, tried one out, and took to it! How exciting for him, and how good for us.

Sometimes he will play "catch" with a sheep; sometimes it's just nearby. When I think he's lost interest, I will come across him taking a nap with the sheep just under his head.

It's been a joy to see his herding instincts transferred to more appropriate objects than us.

(Photography note: The glow in Mac's eyes in the first photo is toned way down from the original. Like most dogs, he has very reflective retina, and they don't get corrected with automatic red-eye removal tools because they're not red, they're green. I was able to cut out the "cujo" look just a bit, but there it is.)

A happy visit

We had the opportunity to attend a conference in Washington at the National Cathedral this past week. The drive was long, the cathedral floors are hard, and thus there was no place in D.C. for McAllister to rest his weary head. (His head is often weary. Part of his job.)

It was a blessing to know that any number of church families are happy to host him for short visits, and that he's a good guest. Here is McAllister with our good friends Kirsten, Timothy, Mark, and Sarah. He spent Thursday through Sunday with them.

He was a great visitor, they told us!

Well…Timothy did point out one little shortcoming, related to Mac's adjusting to unfamiliar surroundings.

"He pooped in the garage," Timmy said. "Then, he pooped on the road."

While his parents smiled and assured us it was no trouble at all, Timmy disagreed. "It was not funny!" he explained.

Very true. :-)

We still have the sense that McAllister was a very effective ambassador of goodwill.