For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for January 30, 2023

The average life span for an Old English Sheepdog is 10 – 12 years. Farley is a little over 13 years.

I am now dreading the infamous April episode. Farley was around that age.

They DO complain, especially if in pain. One just has to learn to recognize it.

Well I’m 85 and I see and hear just fine, complaining is another matter tho….

Time to get out the needle!

Already dreading this story line. Makes me think of all the good dogs I have had to say goodbye to.

They DO complain, just not always in English/language.

I’m getting a little grey in the muzzle myself.

A friend of mine has a dachshund that has gone completely blind. The dog is not depressed, he occasionally knocks into people he can’t see, but otherwise is just a happy member of the family. Our pets have no frame of reference for such things, they simply live in complete acceptance of their circumstances … EXCEPT for when an owner dies. THEN they are very sad.

If the Pattersons need to pay a debt, they can always send Farley to the dogfights.

Farley is still happy. That’s the main thing.

Dogs get cataracts also. They are like humans in a lot of ways. They digestive troubles, arthritis, and even, I think dementia or Alzheimer’s.

And don’t ask how he smells.

Comic run is soon to start over. No new comics are being produced I guess. 9 year turnaround.

I have a dog around this age. She’s 13, going on 14, and we had a big health scare a couple of years ago. She’s really rallied since then, though, and has put on a lot of weight. (She’s not fat — she’s back to a normal weight. She’d gotten down to 45 pounds and had bones protruding for a while. She was eating; it just wasn’t sticking.) She’s got really bad cataracts, but doesn’t seem to notice. Her eyes are like milk. She falls down because of her hip dysplasia; one of her back legs isn’t really attached. And she sometimes leaves little “presents” when she doesn’t mean to, and then acts all embarrassed about it. But she keeps on going, and wagging her little tail, and licking our faces as if she wants to strip the skin right off, and if you say “walk”, she materializes at your side, ready to go. Her favorite thing is when my husband’s just has a buzz cut - she loves licking his freshly cut hair. It’s hilarious, so hopefully she remains healthy to spring so she can enjoy that again. :) It looks like she will! For a standard poodle, 14 would be a good age; I’m hoping for more.

Dogs are wonderful. The only sad thing is they don’t live longer.

They really don’t ever complain. Sweet little dogs.

The strip isn’t the same without something big and fuzzy in it?How long until the first rabbit?

A lesson well learned from Farley, Elizabeth, a lesson well learned.

My daughter gives her oldest Golden Retriever age 12 Maranga, arthritis pill, and another pill for eye sight, for a few years and he is doing well. Two other Golden’s Maranga. Helps stop cancer. That spelling may not be right on Moranga.

Gee Elly, you could TELL somebody.

Some friends of ours suddenly had their elderly dog running into all the furniture. They took him to the vet and said they thought he had just inexplicably gone blind. The vet gently asked if they had recently rearranged their furniture. They said yes. The vet explained that their dog had probably been blind for some time but he knew the lay of the land and could navigate it without much sight. Moving the furniture messed up his internal maps.

I recall from the first time around, somebody pointed out to the cartoonist that real-time characters have to die. Farley would have been getting really old by that time, so Lynn created a timeline for the death of the dog. :(