Your Dog’s “Bucket List”

Written by Lorrie Reynolds

Lorrie has been an agility enthusiast since 2002 and has taught tricks, family obedience, agility, and canine conditioning since 2005. When she's not writing articles, developing courses, or training dogs, you can find her curled up with a book in her hands and a dog warming her feet.

May 27, 2022 | Dog Agility Lifestyle and Community

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Last week, out of the blue on a Monday morning, my little 6-year-old dog had a grand mal seizure.

For those of you who are fortunate to have never dealt with this before, seizures are terrifying when they occur unexpectedly. Even though I knew what was happening intellectually, I was an emotional mess as I waited an eternity for it to end.

I had already planned an emergency trip to the vet. Xephyr woke up and fell off the bed, was circling oddly, and couldn’t find his crate for breakfast. I was on my way to get dressed when the seizure happened.

FitPaws Class Demonstration with Xephyr
Xephyr posing with Expert Trick Dog certificate
Trick dog sitting on owner's lap

I won’t drag you emotionally through all of the horrible details from that day, and the follow-up visits to get more tests and an ultrasound. The seizure was caused by low glucose, which was triggered by a large mass on his liver that is interfering with the insulin balance. If I’m very lucky, I’ll have a month, maybe two, before I have to say goodbye to my dog who should be less than halfway through his life.

Trick dog posing with a baseball cap on
Trick and agility dogs on a road trip
Two dogs sitting in front of the Christmas Tree
Trick dog laying on table with flowers

In many ways, I’ve been extremely fortunate. I’ve had 11 rescues and one purchased dog in my adult life, and I’ve only lost one other dog at a young age, to an autoimmune disease that caused a sudden bleed. All the others have lived very long lives, and my “heart and soul dog” lived until just shy of 17. I’ve never had to deal with cancer in any of my dogs, so I’ve beaten the odds.

Trick dog sitting on a carpet
Dog sleeping in the bed with covers

I’m also blessed to have had, other than during the worst COVID years, a very active life with my dogs. Especially compared to most household pets, my dogs have lived full and enriched lives. Xephyr has traveled out of state to a national trick dog convention, has made trips to the mountains to be my teaching assistant, has gotten to play in wide-open spaces with a pack of friendly dogs on multiple occasions, has been a demo dog for foreign students learning about canine conditioning, and has been my full-time companion for the last two years as I worked from home.

My Advice

And that brings me to the “bucket list” part of the post. I’m not going to call this one “today’s tip” because I don’t want people to look at it as something that only has to do with training or competition. Here is my advice.

Integrate your dog’s bucket list into your daily life. That includes things you assume he wants to do AND the things you want to do with him. Want to make him the star of a video? Go do it now! It doesn’t have to be perfect. Want to take a trip to the beach, the mountains, or the lake with your dog? Don’t put it off. Take the selfies with your dog! Movie plots aside, our bucket lists for our dogs (or ourselves) shouldn’t be one last grand adventure we take as they are dying. We should do things on that list every day while they are well and can enjoy them.

Trick dog in an office chair

One of my “bucket list” items for him was to finish his Trick Dog Champion title.  We completed it two days after his formal diagnosis.  Click the image below to watch it.

Trick Dog Champion Video Thumbnail

The only things I’ll change for the time we have left are to let him get away with a little more naughtiness, take some extra pictures and video (since the hundreds of photos and hours of video I have now will never be enough), and feed him things I normally wouldn’t let him have. I have no regrets about Xephyr’s experiences in life. I only wish that we could continue to have those experiences together for much, much longer.

Go give your dog(s) a hug. They are never with us long enough. I’m off to put a check mark next to another bucket list item – maybe it will be feeding him a whole hamburger.

I lost Xephyr 119 days after his diagnosis, more than double what we expected. If you’ve lost a pet, I wrote an article on dealing with loss and the things that helped me cope with losing Xephyr. You can read it here.

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Cover photo: Courtesy of Howling Moon Photography.