Big Medicine is out to kill us. Ok, ok , maybe not kill us (there isn't much profit in efficient ends now is there??) just incapacitate us greatly. If you don't know who I mean by "Big Medicine" is-- it's what everyone else calls "conventional" medical advice....
Now, I don't have a human anecdote today--but what I have is Dearest Dingo herself. All 16 years of her!! She's a husky shepherd type mix and we do know she is old, old, old. I tried to convert her age into DOG years, using an online pedigree calculator. However, upon entering her size and breed mix, they claimed: "we do not have that calculation available" (!) In other words, they consider her an absolute anomaly...impossible to achieve... (I did look at another chart- that states she would be around 120 in human years).
Well anyway, my freak-of-nature dog had started to suffer from some weakness and arthritis in the back legs--already in 2015--when she was 14 1/2. I took her to a "conventional vet" that summer, who (of all things) diagnosed her with dementia for growling at him ! (Dingo hates all strangers --when she starts liking them--then she'll be demented). He also gave the standard medical advice: "she needs to take it easy" , no stairs, shorter walks, more resting, blah, blah. Heard it all before, from every well meaning individual...
A few months later, when she was 15, I took her to a "natural vet" for possible acupuncture to help her arthritic hind legs. But, darling Dingo wasn't going to have any of that (insert growl here). Instead, we were sent away with a container of Chinese herbs (which happened to make Dingo a bit crazy manic) and the same well meaning advice: "no stairs, take it easy, slow and steady"...
Well, it just so happens, that the only way to get into our fenced in backyard, is by using stairs--so short of carrying the 65 pound Dingo, we had no choice but to incorporate the "evil" stairs into her daily jaunts and potty rituals. In addition to Dingo's daily step-aerobics, once the Oregon weather turned nice, she increasingly stayed outside and started taking longer and longer strolls....
Reluctantly, we continued taking Dingo on shortish hikes in the nearby woods (upon her insistence)--which surprisingly didn't seem to affect her stamina at all. In fact, we slowly started noticing that in the past 6 months, the ability to smoothly use her rear legs seemed to actually be improving. (note, she doesn't seem to need pain meds, but does take glucosamine and fish oil)
Which takes us to where we are today...This crazy 16 year old dog, just joined us on a hilly nature hike. Besides an awkward stumble into the river (because she was chasing a duck) we managed to get her home just fine, although at her own slow and steady pace. As it happened, we had one of those new fangled phones along, so just for giggles, I checked the fit app thingy....
So how long was the hike we took Dingo on? Here it is folks: 2.64 miles and 11 stories!! All because this crazy animal hasn't taken "it easy", but has literally worked her tail off keeping fit.
Now, I am under no illusions that she is going to magically reverse the aging process, but holy crap, if she had 'taken it easy' as suggested, would she have been able to walk through the forest today and chase a duck at her age?? I'll let you decide....
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