Old Heidi has been with us for about 6-7 years. She came to us already 6 years old I’d guess. We rescued her from a family who could not keep her and had contacted a shelter to find her a home. We were looking for a companion for our daughter who is now 10. We were her 3rd family. So, she is getting up in her years at approximately 12-13 years old.

She has had quite a life. Her original owner was an elderly lady who fed her at the table and spoiled her rotten. Her second owner was a family with kids who got “too busy” for her and ended up crating her from 7 am to 8 pm at night and she was free in the house only as everyone slept. She was extremely obese when we got her from being fed canned food and from being crated all day.

So- we got her and put her on a diet which consisted of all the DRY food she wants- and lots of exercise and play outside. She slimmed down and learned to love being outside chasing critters.

After having her several years, we discovered her out in the yard paralyzed from her waist down. The vet said put her down, she had a 0% chance of pulling through. Instead, we made her a cart to hold her back end off the ground and carried her around for awhile to keep from getting sores. We gave her a couple anti-inflammatory shots. Weeks passed and she slowly, but surely, regained her feeling and eventually her mobility. She has always walked with a limp in her two back legs since then, a reminder of her paralysis.

In the last two winters we have thought she wouldn’t make it through the winter. She is graying all over and looking her age for sure. But, she keeps making it through and the warm weather is easier on her and she does better then. She seems to forget her stiffness momentarily when there is a critter to chase.

This fall, more than once we saw her standing in the middle of the road, blocking traffic, unaware she was doing so. We are the only ones on our road, so it’s not like there is a lot of traffic, but, we realized she can’t see or hear very well anymore.

This winter, she is very stiff. Her body almost looks contorted she is so stiff. In the morning she can’t walk right off- and drags her rear again and we wonder if she’ll be able to get her feet under her or not? After she warms up, she is able to sort of hop her legs around behind her but she doesn’t really move them independently anymore.

We invite her in the house whenever she wants- but she prefers outdoors and likes sleeping in the alfalfa in the shed in her spot. Well, this morning, I went out to check on her as it has been very cold. She barely could get up. She begged with her eyes and I carried her up to her food and water by the house. She refused her food and went to the front door and begged with her eyes to get in the house- which she NEVER does. You see, outside is where all the hunting and excitement is- inside never appealed to Heidi.

So, I brought her in and set her up with a bed and food and water in the house. I thought after she warms up, she won’t want in anymore and will start yapping like she does to go back out. A few hours later, no yapping, but I picked her up and brought her out to potty because it was that time. I set her down and she was hippity-hopping on the driveway and losing her grip on the ice and twisting sideways and sliding her back end around on the ice. She would hop her legs back under her and try again, barely able to control her own hind end. I think she is losing feeling in her rear, because as she hippity-hopped, she pottied and she didn’t even know. She hadn’t even found her “spot” yet on the lawn.

I watched her in the window for 5 minutes struggle outside and head for her hay in the shed, pause 1/3 of the way there, then turn around and come back to the door and beg with her eyes to let her in again. She NEVER begs for me to let her in except on the occasion of thunder and lighting or fireworks because, because, like I said, all the excitement for her is outside. She loves digging holes, hunting up squirrels and mice, and being, well, a Dachshund! She is more Dachshund than any Dachshund I’ve ever known.

It’s heartbreaking to see her give that up and want in the house- because that isn’t who she is. I have never put a dog down before. I have hoped and prayed she would die in her sleep in her “spot” sometime outside- die naturally, peacefully. I don’t want to have to be the one to decide, but I also don’t want her suffering and in pain. At what point do you give up? Or do you ever give up?

What do you do with an old girl like Heidi?