Timmy is going to be 16 years old in July; this will make him 112 in people years.  His age will give you a pretty good idea of what his life is like.  He is healthy, but his eyesight and hearing are gone.  He has been wearing special doggy diapers for over a year now.  He’s also weak; although, he can get up and down and walk on flat surfaces.  He considers Nancy Lu to be his geriatric-dog assisted living facility of the Caribbean.  We are his staff, treating him with all the dignity that he deserves with a lot of love thrown in! 

His days are spent entirely on Nancy Lu.  His daytime hours are divided among…

sleeping-time (90%), which he enjoys in any of the various accommodations for this “activity”

(or anywhere),

drinking-time,

 

eating-time,

 

potty-time,

 

 

short spurts of playtime,

 

and wandering aimlessly-time. 

He appreciates the fact that there is very little space to be traveled between these various activities. 

The Nancy Lu Geriatric-Dog Assisted Living Facility of the Caribbean Staff Requirements are:  1)  Keep his water and food bowl filled

 

2)  Lift him into various of his sleeping accommodations

3)  Listen for the flapping of his ears which signals that he has roused from sleep and; therefore, needs to have potty-time

 

 

 4) Assist with potty-time, which entails taking off his diaper, fitting him with his harness and leash,

walking him around the deck so that he won’t accidently walk off of it, and washing down or throwing over his waste, and

5) an occasional bath.

For the most part, Timmy is very happy with his staff’s quality of treatment.  He has only two complaints:  1)  the newly implemented Nancy Lu Geriatric-Dog Assisted Living Facility of the Caribbean policy of taking his food up shortly after 1200 hrs. (implemented to insure a full night’s sleep) and 2) waking from a daytime sleep to find that the staff has left him alone at the facility, especially if they’re gone for more than a couple of hours!  

Timmy’s top three rated Nancy Lu Geriatric-Dog Assisted Living services include:

 

1) his nighttime sleeping arrangement at the foot of the staff’s bed

 

2) random brief reassuring cuddles, and

 

3) the times when daytime sleep can be done cuddled by the side of the woman-staff.

 

From Late February through Late March, the Nancy Lu Geriatric-Dog Assisted Living Facility has been dividing its time among St. John USVI, St. Thomas USVI, Puerto Rico, and St. Martin/Sint Maartin.  An unexpected trip from St. Thomas back to Puerto Rico from March 2 – March 14, was made necessary because of the discovery of a hole in the exhaust manifold of the engine aboard the Nancy Lu facility that needed to be fixed!  The only effect on our patient was potty-time being moved from the decks of Nancy Lu to the docks at Sun Bay Marina.  He didn’t find this to be an inconvenience in any way.  In fact, it inspired in him a couple of running spurts, the likes of which have not been seen in months!

Since March 17, The Nancy Lu Geriatric-Dog Assisted Living Facility has been stationed in Simpson Bay Lagoon on the Dutch side of St. Martin, Sint Maartin.  The Staff has enjoyed our time here on both the French and Dutch sides of the island.  We’ve experienced the hassle of the cell phone arrangements that we made before we left St. Thomas not working for us AND not being able to get internet on the boat at all, but that has necessitated daily trips to various French pastry shops where we’ve enjoyed coffee and sweets!  For Timmy, it’s been “same old, same old”.

The Staff will soon post blogs with updates on their goings-on in the Caribbean.

Until then…Bon jour!!

 

Just a few more pics of Timmy doing the activity that takes up 90% of his time….

 

….and one last cuddle pic, awwwww!