Polo: A dog’s life — literally

In our modern medical age, life can be prolonged for man or animal. About a year and a half ago, our now 13-year-old granddog Polo sidestepped the grim reaper.

In human years he is 91 and just passed me up at 87. The biggest difference between us is that he doesn’t believe in walking, while I never miss a day of my mile walk, whether it be inside or outside.

Last leg

Polo would not eat or drink, so he was on his last leg. I have been granddog sitting Polo almost daily during his entire life span. My advice to his owner, my daughter Linda Krieger, was to have him put out of his misery. She elected to try to have the vet save his life. Intravenous and $200 later and Polo is still with us. His diet of human food certainly agrees with him, because he’s always back for his meals, which he never did before his reincarnation. He eats the same food at each meal, a special concoction. I enjoy seeing him wolf down his food, since the vet saved his life.

And now for the rest of the story. Several years ago, just after open heart surgery, I was bitten by a four-year-old Westie at a garage sale and had to take antibiotics that produced an adverse reaction. I owned a Westie from 1968 to 1972 and had to put him away, since he busted out the screen door and bit the mailman, slightly. Maybe my dog, Scamp, was reincarnated to get me. The reason: Scamp was put away because my insurance agent said the dog was allowed one bite. He said “ Mike, do you want your money, your house or your dog?” Enough said.

Michael J. Lacivita is a Youngstown retiree and a member of the Ohio Senior Citizns Hall of Fame and Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.