On Wednesday the dogs and I took our first walk after I decided Zeke didn’t need to walk two miles in the Georgia July heat. We turned around at the halfway point. The dogs would have happily gone further, but they don’t ask questions, so they were happy enough to turn around.

Zeke had been walking pretty slowly on the way back up the mountain for some time. I noticed, but didn’t necessarily attribute it to old age. We have had Zeke for 11 years, and he was fully grown when we got him. He’s at least 12, maybe older, and that’s getting pretty old for a big dog like Zeke.

I think I see graying in his face, but it’s hard to tell. Here he is in December 2008.

And here he is on Wednesday.

I tried to get him to stand up so I could get a frontal shot of his face, but he was lying the floor, cooling off after our walk, and he didn’t want to get up.

I showed Leah these two shots without telling her which was which, and asked her which one she thought showed Zeke as older. She picked the one from 2008. I really can’t see much difference in the pictures, but when I look at him it seems like I should be able to.

He has always been an active dog, or at least as active as we can let him be. He still plays with Sam like a puppy, although he seems to prefer wrestling while lying on the street. The signs of aging are subtle so far, but I think I see them. Even so, once the damned heat retreats, I think we’ll be seeing what’s going on a little further down the road.