# My Golden Lived 17+ Years - My Advice and Tips for Senior Care



## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Welcome to the forum.

I am so very sorry for the loss of your beautiful J.R.
17 years is a very long good life, it's quite obvious how much you loved him and how very well cared for he was. 

We were blessed with 15.5 years with my Bridge boy. 

Thank you for sharing your tips. 

There is a Rainbow Bridge section here on the forum if you'd like to post a tribute to J.R., post more pictures, and tell us more about him. 

Godspeed J.R.


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## TheZ's (Jun 13, 2011)

Your commitment to J.R. is so moving. He was so lucky to have such loving care and I'm guessing he returned it with even more love and dedication. Thanks for your tips for caring for older Goldens.

May J.R.'s spirit run free and strong and his memory be always with you.


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## Jennifer1 (Mar 31, 2012)

I'm so very sorry for your loss.
The bond you shared is beautiful


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## Sheldon's Mom (Dec 29, 2012)

Welcome to the forum.
I am so sorry of your loss of your beautiful golden boy JR.
You were so blessed to have him for 17 years and he was so blessed to
have you.
Thank you so much for sharing your suggestions for caring for an older golden.
Comforting wishes sent to you and your family.


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## elly (Nov 21, 2010)

Im so sorry for your huge loss. What a wonderful team you all made. Such a beautiful photo, thank you for sharing. Run free sweet J.R. X


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## ssacres (Sep 29, 2012)

I am so sorry for your loss. I sure know how hard it is when we have to say goodbye.


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## Aleksandrina (May 27, 2014)

I'm very sorry for your loss. It sounds like J.R. had a long and happy life. 

Thank you for sharing your advice with us!


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## Karen519 (Aug 21, 2006)

*Nightrain76*

Nightrain76

I am so VERY SORRY about your sweet J.R.
I added him to the 2014 Rainbow Bridge List and I'm sure my Smooch and Snobear have greeted him.
http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com...253434-rainbow-bridge-list-grf-2014-a-13.html


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## elenarain (Jul 26, 2008)

I am so sorry for your loss of your lovely J.R. Thank you for sharing your story!
elena and bay


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## swishywagga (Nov 13, 2012)

Welcome to the forum, I am so very sorry for the loss of your precious JR, he certainly must have had a wonderful life with your family x


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## Jessie'sGirl (Aug 30, 2010)

I am sorry that you've lost JR. He was a lucky boy to be surrounded by so much love.


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

Sorry for your loss. Your dedication was unbelievable.

My mother just lost a little toy dog this winter, she was almost 20. She also did acupuncture the last few years and seemed to make a world of difference.


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## Goldylover2 (May 1, 2014)

So sorry for your loss. You sure did have a great team to give J.R. the best years late in life. Seventeen years is a testament on how much J.R. wanted to keep on keepin on for you all.


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## KathyL (Jul 6, 2011)

I'm sorry to read of your loss. 17 1/2 is an amazing age and you certainly gave him the best golden years possible. Thank you for taking the time to share what you did to make JR comfortable in his senior years.


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## Nightrain76 (Jul 23, 2014)

Thanks everyone. Today was the first full day without him. After work I went to the dog park alone and sat at the bench were I would sit down JR and let him watch the other dogs from outside the fenced in area. As I cried behind my sun glasses there happened to be a Golden inside the dog park. He walked up to me (I was outside the fence), and began pawing at the fence to me. It was really surreal.


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## Buddy's mom forever (Jun 23, 2011)

I am very sorry for your loss. Such a beautiful boy and beautiful life he had with you and your family. Many of us here understand how you feel. Thanks for sharing your advices, my favorite is *7) Give the dog all the love you can *and all other advices will be in place. You and your family are very special people, God bless you, wish you all the best with all my heart.


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## mybuddy (Mar 2, 2007)

Wow, what a great post and very informative for people like me, who are dealing with seniors for the first time. It isn't easy, watching your best friend age. :no:

I am so sorry for your loss but have to say that your boy was one lucky golden! What a wonderful bond you shared together


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## Nightrain76 (Jul 23, 2014)

Thanks everyone. It means a lot.


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Nightrain76 said:


> Thanks everyone. Today was the first full day without him. After work I went to the dog park alone and sat at the bench were I would sit down JR and let him watch the other dogs from outside the fenced in area. As I cried behind my sun glasses there happened to be a Golden inside the dog park. He walked up to me (I was outside the fence), and began pawing at the fence to me. It was really surreal.


Nightrain76, that's what most of us here on the forum refer to as a "God Wink". 

I believe it was a sign from J.R. letting you know he's alright and that he's watching over you and always will be.


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

I'm so sorry for your loss. No matter how long they are with us, it's never long enough, is it?


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## caseypooh (Dec 30, 2010)

Bless you Nighttrain, you are truly an angel. Watch for his signs, there is no way he's going to not be by your side.


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## bemyangell (Mar 4, 2007)

So sorry for your loss. Jr was sure lucky to have you all. I would hope that ours could make it 17 plus years. Prayers be with you and your family during this time.


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## MercyMom (Dec 19, 2011)

A lot of good words of wisdom. Sorry for your loss.


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## Nightrain76 (Jul 23, 2014)

It is important to adapt to the changes of your senior dog. Change in the way you care for your dog during the aging process is important. There were times my wife would suggest a change, like keeping the dog in a harness, or bringing him his water - and my initial reaction was to scoff it. Part of it was me denying my dog was aging. However it turns out these adaptations would extend his life - not just months - but years. I firmly believe that.

A couple more tips I thought of:

-If your dog has lost mobility, make sure he/she is in a comfortable position. There may be times the dog tries to get up and fails, and the hind legs can go in some strange directions. I always made sure the dog was in a normal position.

-I mentioned in my first post that JR lost his ability to urinate and we manually extracted him. It took me longer to learn to do this effectively than my brother, but eventually I was able to do it. It got to the point when J.R. couldn't stand that it was going to have to be a two man job. That's when my dad went into the garage and constructed this below. It allowed me to put J.R. over this stand and extract him by myself. It wasn't until the last week or so that he couldn't give me any support on his hind legs. My dad was actually building a second part for this to combat that, but never got the chance to use it 

Remember - Adapting and changing your routines is extremely important. I for one don't like change - except when I knew it would benefit my baby.


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Your tips are really great, some of them I was aware of, several I wasn't. 

Wish I'd known about the ones I didn't when my bridge boy was alive. 

My girl will be 10 in Dec., so far she's not having any problems, will definitely keep these tips for future reference. 

I am going to make your thread into a "Sticky" so it will be easy to find for other members who have Srs.

Thank you again, J.R. was very lucky to have you and your family.


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## Lynn5707 (Aug 30, 2014)

I am so sorry for your loss. What a beautiful job you did taking care of J.R. Thank you for sharing your advice.


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## Karen519 (Aug 21, 2006)

*Nightrain*

NIGHTRAIN

Thank you so much for all of the tips you shared with us about taking care of a senior dog; 17 years is amazing. 

J.R. sure was a special and beautiful boy!!


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