Christina and Glenn Rome don’t shy away from older dogs with health issues. Instead, they welcome them in. Here’s what they had to say about Stogie, their brown and tan Chihuahua, and Brandy, their white Chihuahua:

CHRISTINA: “This is Stogie, he’s 11. He’s just so mellow and settled. I like that! He’s very settled!”

GLENN: “Yes, and low-maintenance.”

CHRISTINA: “So far, yeah! He’s got some bad knees, but we don’t mind that. We actually got him that way from the Humane Society.

“I think this age is a little easier because we know who he is. He knows who he is! His personality is very well formed now. When we first got him, I don’t think he was quite sure where to go with everything. As time went on we started learning more and more about his personality, and now we just love him to death.

“Brandy, our other dog, she’s 5 and she’s actually a chronically ill little one. She’s been holding her own for the last four years, though. She was losing her eyesight when we got her.”

GLENN: “Her eyesight is better than it used to be, actually!”

CHRISTINE: “Yes, now that she’s on all the medicines that she’s on, it’s curbing all of her symptoms. And Stogie? He’s very self-assured! I think that came with being older. He doesn’t know he’s old! He still runs around and he plays and you’d never guess he has bad knees.”

Love your old dog? Tell us why! Send your thoughts, observations and dog photos to stories@myolddogbook.com with “I love my old dog because” in the subject line. Your dog may be featured in a future post!

Love stories and photos of sweet senior pooches? The book “My Old Dog: Rescued Pets with Remarkable Second Acts” by Laura T. Coffey and Lori Fusaro is due out on Oct. 6. (Pssst … it’s available for pre-order now at Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com!)