He has never been reprimanded since he was adopted into the Shewani family. At 12 years, Tysun is much loved and pampered and a very obedient pooch too. As a six-month-old rambunctious boxer puppy, he fell from the first floor of his home chasing a shuttlecock when his human family were playing badminton. That left him with a fracture. Now, with age advancing, the aches and pains which he lived with easily are coming back rather strong. Kareena Shewani, a luxury fashion industry curator, tells us how looking after senior dogs, like her baby Tysun, needs some management. The doting mom manages her schedules such that Tyson never needs anything. She shares her experience on how to accept and how to make things easier for the dog and humans.
Early days: As a puppy, Tysun would love to roll around the garden. His favourite game was jumping on the sofa and taking off with Kareena’s squinchy. “He would run to the garden with it almost every day. I mock scolded him so much when he did that, especially if it was a new squinchy,” she grins, eyes lighting up at the memory. Right from the time he was a baby, Tysun has been looking into Kareena’s eyes to tell her what he wants. “Most dogs don’t do that. I understand exactly what his look means and he knows it!” she shares. Another favourite is the time the remote disappeared from the house. Everybody was blaming the other person, till the next morning when the gardener came. “He got me digits from the television remote saying, that he found them in a corner of the garden. I laughed instead of scolding Tysun. He had decimated the remote and left us blaming each other for its disappearance,” she adds petting the big boy.
The health issues: It required just one command of “bring ball” and Tysun would scurry into the remotest corner oh his sprawling home to bring the toy he wanted to play fetch with. His humans couldn’t even guess his hiding place, he had so many. That was in his younger days. Now, Tysun looks at the ball with much interest but his body doesn’t support his spirit of chasing the ball.
“With Tyson’s history of a broken bone, we need to be a little more careful. Also, he has arthritis and gets vitamin injections regularly,” says Kareena. With increasing age, activity levels are sure to reduce. That is something that pet parents need to understand and accept. “The active boy who would once be at the top of the stairs when we were at the bottom, now comes up very slowly. Independent earlier, he didn’t have to be around us all the time. Now, he is my shadow. He needs that reassurance that everything is alright,” she adds stressing that patience is the key.
The leash that was once essential for his four walks is too heavy now, so he is walked off leash, with just his bandana. His walks are down to two. But the joy, the warmth he gives are the same.
Food habits: There are times that he won’t eat. Then Kareena gets upset and she hand feeds him till he is ok to eat by himself. Watching him shrunk two sizes smaller than he was is difficult but it can’t be helped. “We saw that for three months Tysun was bringing up all the food he ate. As we went on eliminating the causes, we changed his diet. He is now on four small meals and is managing well,” she says. So, observe what could be bothering your dog and work on it.
The future: He is part of the family. He is growing old but that doesn’t mean that the Shewanis love him less. In fact, they care about him just a little bit more. Isn’t that what being family is all about?
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