Old dog
A dog at the end of its working life — long loyalty wearing thin in the body that carried it.
An old dog in a dream is the dream's image of long loyalty wearing thin in the body that has carried it. The old dog still knows the house and the names, but the legs and the hearing have begun to give. The dream brings the old dog when a long-standing relationship in your life — a friendship, a marriage, a working partnership — is still entirely present and is also visibly tiring. An old dog lying near you at the end of the day is the dream affirming the continuing companionship. An old dog you must decide what to do for is the dream noting that loyalty, on its own, no longer answers the question of what is kind, and a harder care is being asked of you.