Sam Harrington-Lowe
This season ’ s wild effort to make my own life more complicated has been to foster a blind , deaf 15-year-old pug . And whilst this has made life considerably harder , it ’ s also been rather magical .
I can ’ t tell you her name or the gods will smite me ( AKA the pug charity trustees ) but I can tell you that she has already earned her second name , which is Bones – so she is Miss Bones to you . And yes , I sing this in a Billie Holiday fashion .
Miss Bones can actually see some contrast – the difference between a dark floor and a light wall , for example , but it ’ s not reliable . And she can hear odd things – if I really bellow , or thump the floor , that can occasionally work . But mostly Miss Bones is in her own little world .
Her owner died . Imagine being fostered out at 15 after a lifetime with one family . When she arrived she was frightened and in flight mode . Very hard for a pug that can barely even see if it ’ s day or night . After a day or two crashing around trying to escape , the pheromone diffuser and industrial strength hemp oil kicked in and she settled , found her stride , started to trust us , and we formed some routines .
She ’ s amazing . She ’ s mapped out the ground floor of the house , doing laps over and over , touching things with her nose to test the boundaries , and walks around it without hesitation now . We have to be careful of not ambushing her by leaving things lying around where she ’ s not expecting them . Added bonus that daughter now has to be tidier , or Miss Bones goes a cropper .
Alice Pickle , pug incumbent , isn ’ t a huge fan of Miss Bones . Alice doesn ’ t understand that Bones is blind , and why she blunders into her . As for Miss Bones , she barely knows Alice is there , and the two of them ricochet round the house like Roombas , never quite bashing into each other but veering at the last second . I expect they ’ ll get over it – they ’ re already starting to sit closer together ( see pic , Alice at front ).
But I tell you all this because you never know when you ’ re going to be called on to do a good thing – and Christmas , whether you ’ re religious or not , is a time for doing good things , I feel . So I did a good thing .
We will of course hang onto Miss Bones now for the duration – there ’ s no way I ’ m putting her through another move at her age . People have ( not unreasonably ) told me I ’ m mad , aren ’ t I busy enough etc . But when I see little Bones do an excited blind jump in the kitchen because she ’ s happy and wants attention , or watch her pop down the steps outside confidently because she knows where they are now , eager for her walk , or feel her sit on my feet so she can be close while I work … well none of that matters . And so yes , this dog was for Christmas , and will be for life . Welcome to the family , Miss Bones .
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Sam Harrington-Lowe Director & Managing Editor , Title Media Title Sussex Magazine , Silver Magazine
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