Bo will be 10 on May 31 this year. So reluctantly, I am admitting he is an elder dog at this point...as you can see from his gray muzzle above. I got Bo in July of 2000 when I lived alone in Suwanee and before I began dating Christian...it was just Bo and I. How his life has changed over 10 years...first came Christian, then came my little condo, then came a big backyard in our current house, then came Seth...a few years later, he welcomed Emily...whom he seems to consider his baby. Over the last few months, Bo has gotten a tad slower to get up and a bit less likely to run after his soccer ball. Then he started dragging his back paws a bit when he walks. We knew he had arthritis in his front legs and with boxers carrying 80% of their weight in their front legs, he has more pressure on those. We managed to get him to lose about 8 lbs which helps the weight he has to carry on those joints.

We took him to the vet on Monday and had some x-rays done. The goods news is that his hips are in decent shape, given his size and age. Boxers are very prone to hip dysplasia so this made me happy to know it wasn't that. However, he does have Spondylosis - basically, older dogs can be susceptible to this condition meaning their back is fusing together which causes less flexibility and hind-leg weakness. There is a surgery that could help him but given his age and weight, I do not want to put him through that surgery or recovery. So we are treating the symptoms...pain pills and he seems to be happy with these. The doctor also wants to test him for Cushings Disease but we are waiting a bit for this test to see how the current meds work with his body first.

We love our Bo here and want him to have the best rest of his life so we will just keep loving him and hugging him. He seems to really enjoy these from Emmy as she pretends to paint his toenails and pretends to put eyeshadow on him. I keep trying to get this on video but it hasn't happened yet.