When Did the Dog Get Old?

Either I haven't been paying attention, or Saydie got to be an old lady over night.

Her face is entirely white, the white hairs are creeping up from her paws to her legs and she no longer can leap like a gazelle into the truck. I have to pick her butt up and give her an assist. (Which is pretty fun to see, 6 months pregnant lifting the ass of a 75lb old lady dog into a big pick up truck).

I noticed that Saydie has quit creeping onto our bed in the middle of the night. This was not a habit E was fond of. I thought maybe, just maybe, she decided to listen to him (no) and stop.

It's not a high bed, its actually a platform. But she doesn't try anymore because, well, she's old and her fluffy dog bed is quite nice on its own.

One thing that has NOT waned is her protective instincts. Those are all sorts of geared up. She's up my ass all the time, sleeping at my feet or right behind my chair in the office. I don't think she knows why she's more protective, I think it's just instinct that she has a more important job in the pack, and that shit's serious.

Yesterday I brought her to work and I'm sitting at my desk and in walks 2 employees of the male persuasion. One is young, the other is middle aged. She immediately crams her nose into the crotch of the young guy (sorry, guy) and shakes her butt and tries to kiss him. He pats her and that's all good.
But then, the other guy is behind him and Saydie immediately goes into "Imma fuck you up mode".

I have never, in over 8 years, seen my dog act this way.

She raised all the hair on her back, not just the strip in the middle, flattened her ears against her head and let out a very low growl. She dropped her head almost to the floor and crouched, then laid down at his feet between him and I.

He's all "aw, doggy, it's OK..." and I'm "Yeah, you're going to want to stay still." I got up and pretty much dragged her back to my desk and tied her to my chair by her leash and informed employee not to come any closer.

What the HELL was that?


Then, last weekend, our neighbors, the newest retards in the neighborhood, decided to party on Saturday in addition to Friday (since, on Friday, they got into an alcohol-fused argument amongst themselves, with screaming and violence, causing the PD to show up. THREE cruisers worth).  

So Saydie is sitting on her couch in the sun room with her snout pushed against the window screen and whining whilst staring at the neighbor's house. They aren't yelling but they are talking quite loudly, in that "I'm drunk and need to raise my voice 15 octaves-way). She starts pacing the house, going from the living room window in the front of the house to the back of the house, the sun room. She's got her ears back, her hair's up in the strip on her back and she's clearly agitated by the men speaking loudly and trying to protect me from them. E's up in the bedroom cleaning something as usual and I'm with the dog, trying to calm her down.

Eventually the 3 of us go to bed (and Saydie stands in front of the bedroom window, which faces the neighbors', whines for a second and then is satisfied that her humans are in no immediate danger, and curls up to sleep.

E and I are not worried one bit about our old  dog and the baby. She's the only animal allowed in the bedroom (now and post-birth of the baby) and will most likely sleep next to or under the baby's bassinet. The cats aren't allowed near the bedroom, ours or the baby's, because, well, cats are frigging rude and go where ever they want, whenever they want and don't give a shit what you think about it.