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A letter to the parent of a senior dog
Top Veterinarian Reveals: Why It's Not Too Late To Get Your Senior Dog Back.
Even at 12, 13, or 14.
The story of one vet who got more time with her senior dog. And what she wishes every senior dog parent knew.
By Dr. Christine Colamonico, DVM
Last Updated 7 Sept 2026
For eight years, you could not get your key in the lock without hearing him.
The nails on the hardwood. The scramble. That little whine before you had even turned the handle.
You would open the door and he would be right there. Full body wag. That tight little circle. Trying to bring you a toy, dropping it, picking it up again, because you were home.
Tonight you turned the key and it was quiet.
You saw him from the doorway. On his bed. Head up. Watching you. Tail going against the cushion. Thump. Thump. Thump.
He wanted to come. You could see him wanting to come.
You crossed the room and knelt down. He pushed his face into your neck the way he always has. You told him it was okay. That you would come to him from now on. That it was okay.
He believed you.
You wanted to believe you too.
You have been telling yourself he is just slowing down.
He is not just slowing down. You know that. You have known for weeks. Maybe months. You just did not want to say it out loud, because saying it out loud makes it real.
He is spending his days in a body that no longer moves the way his heart still wants it to. And you are spending your days pretending you have not noticed.
You have started reading the stories differently. The ones about the day someone else had to decide.
And underneath all of it, the question you never let yourself finish
How much time does he have left. And what am I doing with it.
How do you want the last few years to be?
Not "how do we get back what we had." Not "how do we fix him." Those questions belong to a younger dog.
I asked myself that same question. About my own dog.
That is why I am writing this.
He had been my everything since I was young. My running buddy. My companion.
Then one Tuesday, I came home and he did not get up.
I was in vet school. I was supposed to know what to do.
I tried everything my professors taught me. Physiotherapy. Water therapy. Deep tissue massages.
Every joint chew on the market.
Of course I also tried NSAIDs. But Pepsi didn’t tolerate them well.
None of it worked on him.
One night I sat on the kitchen floor next to his bed and pretended not to be crying. He watched me pretend and stayed quiet.
We were saying goodbye.
Except we were not. I could not accept it.
So I stayed up for weeks. I dug through research my professors had never assigned. And I found out that Pepsi's body was destroying his own joints from the inside. Every supplement I had been trained to give him was trying to add more building blocks. But you cannot rebuild what is being torn down faster than you can add materials. He needed something that stopped the destruction.
That something existed. It just was not sold for dogs.
It was sold for humans.
So every morning at 5:30, I stood at my kitchen counter and broke open a capsule. I calculated his dose from his weight. I mixed the powder into his food.
I did not tell anyone. I did not think it would work.
Two weeks in, nothing had changed.
Three weeks in, he got up when I came home.
Six weeks in, he was climbing the stairs.
A few months later, he was running in the yard again.
At 12. I got him back.
And he gave me three more good years.
That was when I started thinking about the other dog parents who did not have my access. Who could not stand at their counter every morning improvising human capsules.
So I built one.
I reached out to a vet friend from school. We took the ingredient that had worked on Pepsi. Added two more that worked with it based on our research. We called it Jope.
Three ingredients.
UC-II collagen.
Curcumin
Omega-3 from wild-caught anchovy oil.
That is it. Manufactured in the Midwest. Third-party tested every batch.
Try Jope risk-free →
Here is the thing nobody told me at the time. And nobody may have told you either.
Some of them come back.
Not all the way back. Not puppy-back. But the small things start to return. The tail thump becomes a getting-up. The getting-up becomes a slow walk to the door. The slow walk becomes, one morning, a scramble.
Since we launched Jope, more than 48,000+ senior dogs have started on this formula. 1,103 parents have written us reviews.
Within 3 months, dog parents wrote to us and tell us their dog is running again. Not walking. Running.
Six weeks in, they tell us he jumped onto the couch. That he had not done it in over a year. That they cried the first time they watched him do it.
Three months in, they tell us he is beating them up the stairs. Playing with the younger dog. Coming home from a hike ahead of them the way he used to.
Try Jope risk-free →
Even for dogs who are 13, 15... even 17
Many saw a difference in 2 weeks or less
Three weeks from now.
You will come home from work. You will put your key in the lock.
And this time, before you even turn the handle, you will hear something you had not heard in months.
The nails on the hardwood. The scramble. That little whine.
You will open the door and he will be right there. Full body wag. Trying to bring you a toy, dropping it, picking it up again.
You will kneel down and cry. Because you had already made peace with never seeing that again.
Three months from now.
You will be sitting on the couch on a Sunday morning.
You will look up and see him watching you from the doorway.
You will pat the couch cushion the way you used to. The way you stopped doing months ago because it made both of you sad.
He will jump.
Sixty pounds landing next to you like it did not just cost him anything. Because this time, it did not.
You got him back.
You did not choose when he got old.
You did not choose which mornings would be his last good ones.
But you get to choose this.
Whether the tail thump at the door stays a tail thump. Or whether, one morning, he tries again to meet you halfway.
He believed you when you knelt down and told him it was okay.
Now give him a reason to prove you were right.
How do you want the last few years to be?
Try Jope risk-free →
From barely moving to bounding up the stairs
Try Jope risk-free →
Great/ really works.,
I have noticed a difference in my competitive Agility dog. He is 10 years old and has had a few pulls, and lameness from performing agility. I have had him on Jope continuously for 5 months and he is definately moving better and recovering from a full day of competion quicker. He loves the taste as well.
We have not miss a day of hope since November 2025 and it shows. Our nearly 12 year old boxer, 4, has so improved to the point that he has no issues with mobility and love his short walks throughout the day. He also is able to jump with ease up onto the high bed. We have also added extra collagen broth to his food so that is another layer of support. Jope is a staple for our sweet boy.
I was very skeptical that this product would make any difference, but Bonnie's stiffness and soreness was just getting worse so I decided to try it. After about 6 weeks I could tell it was helping her because she was not having such a hard time getting up off the floor. We have just passed the 2 month mark. While there has not been any more noticeable improvement, I am hopeful that there will be.
Our almost 11 yr old, 83lb pup struggles with arthritis and we have him on a few medications to try and help though it didn't seem to be enough (rear end weakness on walks, slower to get up). We decided to try Jope chews not expecting a lot but have been pleasantly surprised. I really think it's made a HUGE difference.
Disclaimer:
Jope is a dietary supplement for companion animals and is not a substitute for a balanced diet. Follow the recommendations on petjope.com and the dosages advised. If your pet is on medication or suffers from a medical condition, consult a veterinarian. If your pet shows unusual symptoms while using Jope, contact customer care. If symptoms persist or you are in doubt, stop using the product and consult your veterinarian. This article is an advertorial written by veterinarians at Jope.
