Rolo's Blog: Senior celebrating!

Today is my fourteenth birthday and I'm celebrating in style. I've had two new toys, one of which, a holey ball, I killed in less than half an hour and is now in the bin, the other is a new Frisbee that lights up, and that's being saved for supervised playing only, as it has batteries and 'Her Indoors' doesn't want me swallowing them. I already last ten times longer than most seniors my age, without an extra energy boost! Anyway, I made a pleasing mess with the wrapping paper and was give a special doggy cake called an 'iced woofin' which I demolished even quicker than the holey ball. I've also heard mention of beef stew for tea - perfect!

I don't have a problem with growing older as I live pretty much for the moment so don't trouble myself with comparisons to my younger self. 'Them Indoors' should take a leaf out of my book if you ask me. They'd be much happier. I can still do everything I used to do only not as often, not for as long and not as quickly, a bit like 'Them Indoors'. I still pee standing on three legs most of the time, although if I'm not very well, the ground is a bit uneven, or it's windy, I use all four as it's a bit more stable. And I can still make it through the night without a comfort break which is more than can be said for 'Them Indoors'!

'Her Indoors' once read in a book that 'to grown older is to witness the diminishing of limitless opportunity', but I'm just a simple dog and I prefer to think of the ageing process in terms of life's firsts. When you're very young there are lots of things you do for the first time: the first fox pooh you roll in, the first rabbit you catch, the first beer you drink, the first time you actually do as your told, although that was a long time coming for me.....If 'firsts' are the marker for getting old then I'm actually getting younger as I've had lots of them in the last year: the first book published, the first radio interview, the first time away in the new caravan, the first book signing, the first journey in a lift, the first Borderfest, I could go on...

So apart from going deaf, which if I'm frank, has its uses, and a bit or arthritis which, again if I'm frank, doesn't, I'm doing pretty well. Whilst the average life expectancy for a Border Terrier is 13-15 years which puts me in the danger zone, I belong to a Facebook group called 'Silver Borders' where I'm one of the youngsters. And I've got an extra incentive for longevity. I think I owe it to 'Him Indoors' to live for as long as possible - it's only fair. So pass me a beer, give me some wrapping paper to shred and a command to ignore, I'm all set for the next year!