Sometimes it’s hot…
Getting old is like climbing a mountain. You get a little out of breath, but the view is much better.
-Ingred Bergman
Waldo will be pushing 50 (inhuman years), come this August. His demeanor has evened out over time, although he’s still a very active dog. His puppy frenetic behavior has abated noticeably and he’s more willing to follow commands – that is, there are fewer times when he isn’t. Oh, he still has OCD and gets fixated on the strangest things (some of which I’ve yet to figure out), but he’s much more redirectable. He has also become more heat intolerant.
Way back when Christine, Waldo and I were walking across the state of Massachusetts, we got caught in temperatures in the 80s. We had to stop and wait for Waldo to cool off in the shade here and there, but he seemed to tolerate it okay. Last year, we walked in 78℉ temperatures and he laid down in the shade in wouldn’t continue (I did not try very hard to encourage him) and we cut the walk short. A few days ago, the temperature was around 73℉ and he balked at the start of the rail trail.
I opened the car door to let him out and he just sat there, looking at me. I called to him and he got out of the car, but not eagerly. Then, as soon as we hit the trail, he kept looking where we had been and slowing down. He was several yards to the rear and I had to pull at the leash to get him to keep up. At first, I thought it was because he was worried about bicycles coming up from behind us. There were no bikes there and, often, no people either. The trail was empty. When he started lying down in the weeds at the side of the trail, I gave up and turned around. We had gone only a half-mile. As soon as we headed the other way, he was all the way up front, at the forward end of the leash, pulling to get me to hurry up. Apparently, he wanted to go home and chill. Literally.
Maybe this happened because he just wasn’t in the mood for a long walk. Who am I kidding? He’s a border collie. They’re always in the mood. No, I think he just thought it wasn’t worth the discomfort to exert himself when it was so hot. The balance between the need to get out and romp and the desire to not overheat fell, for him, clearly on the side of, “Let’s do this another day.” I’m not so sure he has lost some heat tolerance due to getting older, or if he has gained a new appreciation for the comfort side of life. I know retirement has given me a deep love for my recliner…
There’s something else going on here too. You would think that Waldo’s coat is thickest during the season when the weather is the coldest. That’s not so. I can remember last December, when it was very cold and snowy, and Waldo’s fur was still thin and his tail was kind of scraggly. Now, it’s mid spring and he is all fluffed out and hasn’t yet started to shed a lot. The fur on his tail has only been thick and heavy the past couple of months. Granted, Waldo is one of a kind, but still, didn’t his fur get the memo? Come to think of it, what are the triggers that tell a dog’s body it’s time to grow hair? For plants, it’s the length of the day and the temperature, that tells them when to grow and shed leaves. But dogs like Waldo live, except for short periods of time, in the controlled environments we provide for them. I wonder if that plays a role.
Then, today, the temperature dropped to the low 60s again and Waldo’s out at the forward end of the leash, pulling me onward, from the get-go. He isn’t even looking behind us for bikes. Of course, there aren’t any bikes out here because it’s kinda rainy, but that never stopped him in the past. In a modified Koch’s postulates kind of way, that confirms it’s the heat that was bothering him before.
That makes me think that I’m going to have to come up with a modified game plan for how we burn off border-collie frenetic energy. I always knew that, when Waldo got older, we would have to make some adjustments. I guess that time is now. On the days when the low temperature is 76℉, getting up before dawn may not be good enough. We’re going to have to take shorter, more frequent walks instead of the longer treks we enjoy. Well, there’s always fall and spring when we can still walk marathons. For now, we’ll play it by ear.
After all, never again going for long walks is not something we will easily accept.
…sometimes it’s not.