Our terrier had chronic back issues - he was a jumper. We successfully kept him off the furniture after the first instance. The vet said that dog's backs were not designed for the type of stress involved in jumping down from furniture. Unfortunately, he would jump vertically when excited, so we still had times where he would do his back in.
He was about 5 when it happened the first time and we decided then and there that surgery wasn't an option. If he didn't recover reasonable quality of life without invasive procedures, we would put him down. The vet couldn't guarantee that surgery would be successful. Fortunately, our terrier recovered successfully everytime he did in his back (it was something disk related) and lived to be 15.
My sister, on the other hand had a beagle and they did pay for him to have back surgery. They had just come home with a new baby and didn't want the older kids to connect the new baby with the death of the dog.
As my german shepherd got older, he gradually lost more and more control over his back end (he had fabulous hips until he was about 11 or 12). It got to the point where he couldn't squat to poop without falling over. That was it for me - he was still happy, but once his dignity was gone, I knew it was time. He was almost 14. I was lucky - my vet came to my house. I gave Sabre a fabulous last day. I took him to work with me in the morning, fed him all his favourite treats and then we went home. We hung out together in the back yard until the vet came. We went into the house and Sabre lay on the floor in the living room and I lay down beside him and had him snuggled in my arms where he quietly passed away. As awful as it was saying goodbye to him, having him die peacefully at home in my arms was the last good thing I could do for him (and for me).
You will do what is right for yourselves and your doggie.
Remember to be good to yourself.
Cheryl
Edited to remove an open bracket oh and punctuation is my friend
He was about 5 when it happened the first time and we decided then and there that surgery wasn't an option. If he didn't recover reasonable quality of life without invasive procedures, we would put him down. The vet couldn't guarantee that surgery would be successful. Fortunately, our terrier recovered successfully everytime he did in his back (it was something disk related) and lived to be 15.
My sister, on the other hand had a beagle and they did pay for him to have back surgery. They had just come home with a new baby and didn't want the older kids to connect the new baby with the death of the dog.
As my german shepherd got older, he gradually lost more and more control over his back end (he had fabulous hips until he was about 11 or 12). It got to the point where he couldn't squat to poop without falling over. That was it for me - he was still happy, but once his dignity was gone, I knew it was time. He was almost 14. I was lucky - my vet came to my house. I gave Sabre a fabulous last day. I took him to work with me in the morning, fed him all his favourite treats and then we went home. We hung out together in the back yard until the vet came. We went into the house and Sabre lay on the floor in the living room and I lay down beside him and had him snuggled in my arms where he quietly passed away. As awful as it was saying goodbye to him, having him die peacefully at home in my arms was the last good thing I could do for him (and for me).
You will do what is right for yourselves and your doggie.
Remember to be good to yourself.
Cheryl
Edited to remove an open bracket oh and punctuation is my friend
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