Please Welcome Peanut!

This adorable little guy arrived from New Orleans two weeks ago. He’s a Dachshund/Chihuahua mix, we’ve been told — though all we know for sure is that he’s as cute as can be!

Peanut’s owner asked if we could take him because she felt she could no longer care for him. He’s at least 15 years-old and she’d had Peanut since he was a puppy. We had our professional pet transportation company, Royal Paws, pick him up and bring him out to New Hampshire.

Peanut was born with juvenile cataracts but never had cataract surgery. His left eye is now completely blind and shrunken in size, as you can see in the photo. Peanut finally did see a veterinary ophthalmologist in 2022 but by that time it was too late. He still has some vision in his right eye, though it’s hard to tell how much. We’ll be taking him to our veterinary ophthalmologist in Burlington for another eye exam and to find out what we can do to protect what little vision he has left.

Alayne took Peanut to our primary care clinic in Littleton last Friday for a medical work-up. Overall, the doctor thought Peanut looked great, especially for his age. But his blood work showed a very elevated alkaline phosphatase value (ALP), so we will be testing him first for Cushing’s disease. Depending on what we find there, we may need to take him to our internal medicine specialist in Burlington for more detailed diagnostics, including an abdominal ultrasound. An elevated ALP could mean many things, from liver disease, a gall bladder issue, and any number of other causes — but we hope it’s something relatively simple like Cushing’s.

Honestly, we were very reluctant to take a dog this old. We’ve been through so much emotional upheaval in the past couple of months after losing Tommy and Maple, and we were afraid we’d be setting ourselves up for another round of grief soon.

Our hearts also break for these really old dogs who are suddenly uprooted from the only life, and only family, they’ve ever known. Yet Peanut’s owner said she had looked for other options for him but couldn’t find anyone willing to take him. And a Louisiana shelter was no place for an elderly, disabled dog.

Alayne and I asked ourselves, what’s the best thing for Peanut?  So we took a deep breath and said, “Yes, we’ll take him.”

And wow, are we glad we did! Peanut is so sweet, so affectionate, and is so full of playful energy. We fell in love with him immediately.

His first day here was very stressful for him — “where am I? who are you people???” But by day two he already seemed to be getting into the groove, and his anxious pacing of the first day had disappeared. By day three Peanut seemed to realize that this was his new home and we were his new family. In fact, we were amazed to see how quickly this senior adapted to such enormous change in his life.

His previous owner worked outside the home and so Peanut was usually left alone during the day, often in a crate. He really seems to enjoy having both Alayne and me here throughout the day. In fact, he’s always checking on each of us to make sure we’re accounted for, then he heads back to his bed for a nap. I’ll be working at my desk when Peanut will walk up, touch my leg with his nose as if to verify my presence, then quietly turn around and saunter over to his bed, reassured that his people are here. Peanut also gets along great with all the other dogs.

The thing that surprised us the most is that he loves to roughhouse! I will love him up, scratching his back and sides, and then turn him loose. He will tuck his little butt in and go zooming across the room, run a couple of circles, then race back to me … and take off again! Peanut might make the entire circuit from living room out to the sun porch and back again; other times he’ll make his circles just in the living room.

Sometimes, first thing in the morning, all I have to do is reach down and pet him and off he goes! When we see those kinds of antics, it’s hard to imagine he’s really as old as he is.

We do realize we’re probably not going to have him more than a year or two, simply given his advanced age. But we adore him, and he’s already given us so much joy. We’re delighted he’s part of the family here.

We know Tommy and Maple would have approved.