Normal aging process

• On one hand, I love having a mature middle aged, wise Akita-friend
• On the other hand, I know he won’t stay with us forever

Of course you can see signs of aging but honestly, with all that he has been through he is in an amazingly good shape.

He moves a bit slower and stiffer but still has his zoomies and still jumps.

He has lost some muscle mass, and I guess the blood circulation also has changed. He now spends more time in the sun than before but still looks for shade most of the time. He also spends more time in his beds than before. They are soft and he does not get so warm anymore. When he was young he wanted to be in his beds but he became too warm.

Even if he is still in a very good shape for his age and background, we are training him to use a ramp into the car – so he is used to it when it is really needed.

A mature, cool and polite Akita

He has become a secure mature individual who spreads his calm even to dogs who are insecure and behave “agressively”. He is used to joining us to all kinds of places and behaves very well. This summer we went to places we knew he would enjoy and where we could take rather short but, to him – interesting walks. Well, some places was also interesting for the humans .

Meeting an old Akita friend – for the last time

Sadly we are constantly reminded of his age. Now we had to let go of one of his best Akita friends who spent a lot of time with us, with and without her human. We decided to meet Ella and her human on the doggy beach by our summer house, a “happy place” for them both and it was obvious her human was right – it was time to let Ella go.

Ella had problems with her hip from a very young age, suffered from Atopic Dermatitis and had probarbly had pain now and then in relation to her heat (according to the vet. who operated Ella and found a huge amount of cysts in her reproductive system).