How old would you be if you didn't know how old you was?

July 8, 2017 9:53 PM

Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary (previously) now has two livestreams, one in the Gathering Room and the other Outside.

According to their Facebook page:

For those of you who are watching us LIVE on explore.org here are a few highlights of the day to watch out for. All times are in Central Daylight Time (CDT) and are approximate.

• 8am: time to wake up - everyone goes outside before breakfast
• 8:30-9:30 - breakfast is served
• 10:00 - 4:00 - everyone is everywhere. It is a good time to see our Old Friends coming and going through the yard, spending time with our staff and relaxing.
• 11:00 - 12:00 and 1:00 - 2:00 on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday we have tours going through. You can listen to our tour director, Sally, and watch the interaction between dogs and guests.
• 4:00 - 5:00 dinnertime
• 5:30 - 8:00 everyone is winding down before bedtime. Lots of resting and cuddling.
• 8pm - bedtime

There are always a lot of things happening at GrandPaw's Gardens. You'll never know who you'll see…

posted by Johnny Wallflower (23 comments total)

I cannot express how much I love OFSDS and how much I want to retire to do something the same.

And they get couches to sleep on because good dogs get soft places to sleep!
posted by drewbage1847 at 10:08 PM on July 8, 2017 [11 favorites]

Hello friends! Hello!!!

I love them all but I wish there was an easy way to identify each dog because I'm the kind of person who asks the names of dogs and doesn't even remember to ask their peoples' names. I want to be able to hover my cursor over the live video and have each dog's name pop up. Now that they've moved to the Gardens they have so much more turnover and new friends that I want to be able to keep up with all of it.
posted by Mizu at 10:26 PM on July 8, 2017 [3 favorites]

That nighttime insect chorus from the realtime external, 2:00 am at midsummer in Tennessee... man, you miss things you grew up with even when you left to get away from them. Still a nice thing to hear, for like 15 seconds.
posted by mwhybark at 11:11 PM on July 8, 2017 [6 favorites]

There is a very pleasant snoring dog noise and, of course, no action in the Gathering Room at 02:00 CDT. 😻
posted by carbide at 12:02 AM on July 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

Much snores, many cozy.
posted by praemunire at 12:14 AM on July 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's very soothing to watch them sleep, with the fan whirring away. Occasionally a sleeping dog wiggles an ear so the camera does a dramatic zoom towards the dog.
posted by BinaryApe at 2:13 AM on July 9, 2017 [5 favorites]

Love these guys!! I set my Amazon smile account to donate to Old Friends. And their tees and sweatshirts are very high quality... I have some for holiday gifts and they were a huge hit!! Now I'm going to go watch pupper snores!! 🐶❤️🐶
posted by pearlybob at 3:51 AM on July 9, 2017

these folks are the best

it is now morning and the camera is inexplicably zoomed in on piles of poop (which is okay, you're gonna get that, they don't have the control they used to)

there's also the incessant plaintive elderly dog bark that you get when a dog can't quite make out what is going on around him, but wants you to know that it might be dangerous

I love them all so much
posted by Countess Elena at 5:43 AM on July 9, 2017 [6 favorites]

it is now morning and the camera is inexplicably zoomed in on piles of poop (which is okay, you're gonna get that, they don't have the control they used to)


I tuned in just in time to see an old dog eat one of those piles of poop. That happens, too.
posted by lagomorphius at 8:28 AM on July 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

That doxy is a little whiny.
posted by praemunire at 10:04 AM on July 9, 2017

So I am the kind of person who could likely benefit from meditation but I find it impossible. I find it hard to clear my mind and just focus on a calming thought. My mind starts racing and gets stuck on increasingly anxiety-ridden loops, and I end up feeling worse after most of my attempts.

However, I just spent a good ten minutes watching a group of elderly dogs sleeping in a room with an oscillating fan. Every once in a while a dog would wander through or get up and walk stiff-leggedly outside. I thought about basically zero other things while I was watching, and it was so relaxing.

Is that what meditating is like for people who are good at it? Maybe I should give up on further stressful attempts at "proper" meditation and just watch this live feed instead.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:06 AM on July 9, 2017 [10 favorites]

I hate to break this to you all, but the very same YouTube channel that has these older dogs also has live videos of... Great Dane puppies, being raised for service dogs.
posted by SteveInMaine at 12:36 PM on July 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

I watched for a bit and some pup laid down in the middle of the room so they could watch all the action without having to move anything other than their head. Smart/lazy dog.

I'm a little surprised at how much they all seem to ignore each other and do their own thing. My dogs were like that too, but I sort of thought normal dog behavior was more interactive.
posted by RustyBrooks at 12:39 PM on July 9, 2017

They are good old doggos whose shenanigan campaigns lay behind them, I think. I suspect many of them have limited vision or hearing, too. They do seem to react en masse (mostly) to exciting things happening in their vicinity (for values of "exciting thing" that include "leaves blowing," apparently).
posted by praemunire at 12:41 PM on July 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

Now all the goggies are being put into separate little fenced-in areas in the common room. Nap time?
posted by dhens at 2:05 PM on July 9, 2017

The blind doodle is my favourite!

The sheer noise every time someone new walks into the house would kill me. Kudos to everyone who can provide high density rescue.

The couches are great and the fan is nice and the radio keeps them company and that's great too. I don't know anything about this rescue but there doesn't seem to be much by way of enrichment for these dogs. Maybe having no toys reduces conflict or something? Or maybe they provide toys during one on one time?
posted by DarlingBri at 4:08 PM on July 9, 2017

From posts on their Facebook page you can see that many dogs have preferred toys that they have with them (Lacey and her pink kong) Since moving to the new huge facility I have seen less toys but there also is so much more space that I suspect the toys are usually somewhere and they just aren't on camera. The new space has some greenhouses that they are using for smaller group play time and running around when it isn't nice outside and I know they play with balls in there, so I would bet that they corral the toys and offer them when it's smart to do so. I imagine that swallowing bits of broken toys or hurting weak teeth is something very important to avoid for these more vulnerable dogs.
posted by Mizu at 4:43 PM on July 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

Yes, I bet it's because they can't watch every dog close enough to make sure they don't choke on a piece of toy. I'm sure there's a rule about it - the entire internet would send them boxes of toys if they so much as mentioned that they needed them.
posted by Countess Elena at 4:46 PM on July 9, 2017

Oh look, Mack is a cocker and not a doodle. My mistake!
posted by DarlingBri at 5:22 PM on July 9, 2017

Cinnamon the Cocker Spaniel is a tripawd! Here's another pic.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:00 PM on July 9, 2017

Watching these old doggos makes me so happy.
posted by twilightlost at 9:45 AM on July 10, 2017

Aww! I'm watching them now and I keep thinking of George Booth's dog drawings, like this one.
posted by tuesdayschild at 1:06 PM on July 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

Bored Panda has a nice collection of elderly dogs by photographer Nancy LeVine.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:32 PM on July 16, 2017