(Click for a bigger pic.)
There he is: Jonah. He's co-opted my youngest's pink bear. Yes, the bear is supposed to be flat. The dog is lumpy because of lipomas (benign fatty tumors). Green eye is because I don't know how to use a camera with a flash.
Jonah is a mutt, but definitely has quite a bit of terrier and Standard ("dog-sized") Poodle in him.
Story time:
My dog is almost 14. You might not be able to tell from the pic, but he's a dog-sized dog and weighs 50lbs, the combination of these make him definitely a "senior citizen." (Generally, the larger the dog, the shorter the life-span.)
About a month ago, he started having severe balance problems and had problems raising himself from, say, the position you see pictured into a standing position. My wife and I, and some others that saw him, concluded that he was just old. However, he got much worse in the past few days, so we took him to the vet. He had a stroke. I never heard of dogs having strokes.
There actually is some real good in this, tho: Jonah was given a cortisone shot and follow-up anti-inflammatories. He's been feeling so good, he's been prancing around like a puppy -- and with only minor balance issues. He also had an extremely thorough blood test which confirmed that the bazillion lipomas he has aren't cancerous (he gets tested regularly) and all his other stats are doggie-normal. His life-expectancy has now been raised to two or more years, too.
Now, the dog is mostly blind and deaf, too. He does respond to movement quite well, as has been learned by the cat next door that likes to use our doggie door ....