Although you want them to stay puppies forever, you know that all dogs age. Koa has been our first baby for over seven years now. She has always been just a beast, as we fondly refer to her. We call her beast not because she is barbaric, but because she has always been a huge mass of muscle - 95 lbs of it in fact. She is a beautiful dog, and has the best temperament. Unfortunately as is common for large dogs, Koa tore her ACL back in April. Our vet is not a proponent of surgery and said that she probably wouldn't recommend it for a 7 year old dog anyway. Although she is the same dog, we have seen a decrease in her spontaneous bursts of speed, and a lot more laying around. Which basically just means that she lopes all over the place instead of running full tilt. I took the dogs to their annual vet exam a week ago Friday. When we weighed Koa, she was 85 lbs. I know, still big, but she has dropped 10 lbs of muscle mass since tearing her ACL. I know that there isn't really anything to be done about it, but I still find it slightly devastating. Our vet took a few long minutes to just sit and look at Koa. She has often admired how muscled Koa is and how athletic an animal she is, and she was just as sad as I was. She said the muscle loss is to be expected, and is actually a good thing given how she now compensates for the torn leg. In fact she said she could even stand to lose 2 or 3 more lbs of muscle. Like I said, she is still the same dog, and other than slowing her speed down a little, it hasn't changed her. If you still mention the word "bird" she goes nuts, and we still have to be cautious of the tailgate because she will jump right in (although we no longer let her). Knowing her braun is not invincible is a little hard to swallow. Shawn and I are a little more protective and cautious now. She is just as beautiful as ever though!
