Great things about being blind. More ice cream adventures.

Writing about ice cream adventures with my guides, reminded me of my first dog Shana.  shana was a family pet that we got when I was about 5.  she was a lab mix.  she was black and felt mostly like a lab.  she was a wonderful dog.  she gave me my love of dogs and help me move towards getting a dog in many ways.  We didn't take her to obedience.  I guess they had it then.  We also let her have some of our food.  She ran loose at our cottage.  One thing we used to do was to give her the empty ice cream cartons to clean out.  I would not do this now with my guides.  She loved to do this.  One of my most favourite sounds as a kid was hearing Shana clean out the cartons.  She would get so excited and walk around the kitchen pushing the carton ahead of her, licking furiously at it.  Her whole head would be inside the carton and so she would bump into the cupboards or other furniture.  She wagged furiously all the time too.  Her tail banging against the stove which made a hollow sound.  Her tail was a wildly wagging thing and always whacked into everything loudly and with gusto.  What a great sound memory that is.

Great things about being blind. Listening to dogs eat and drink.

My wonderful friend Gary is driving me to get dog food today. Carrying huge bags of dog food on public transit or on foot is not easy. Thanks Gary. As I was thinking about this this morning, I thought about how interesting it is to listen to dogs eat and drink. And how all of my different dogs have done so differently. All of my guides have been retreivers of some kind. Three labs and one golden retreiver. And so they have all loved their food. If I ate the same thing for each and every meal, each and every day, would I attack my food as if it was the most wonderful thing ever seen? Would I wag my tail furiously when it is presented? Would I drink water gratefully and gleefully? Not always probably. But my dogs have and my dogs do. Having two dogs now, I know always which one is drinking water. Which one is eating. All of my dogs have sounded different and done different things. My first guide Gwenny ate fast but drank slowly. You could hear the clink of the collar against the bowl. The slow steady beat of her drinking. The frantic pace of her eating. My second guide Margaret always tipped the bowl over and played with it when it was empty. Clanging it. Kicking it around the kitchen. Gia is a slow and delicate eater. She takes her time. You can hear her chewing kibbles and she drinks water at a very fast lapping pace. Faster than any dog I have ever had. Tulia eats fast and furiously and drinks with that slow methodical pace. She licks her whole bowl for several minutes afterwards and drinks a whole bowl of water with each meal. They prance around me with great excitement as I get food ready. Tulia scampers to where the food bowl will be placed, sits down beside it, and wags herself so I can hear her body swishing on the floor. "I'm sitting. I'm being good. I'm so good. Is that my breakfast?" Gia always nudges me with her golden head as I place the food down. "Yes that's right. A little faster if you don't mind?' It is a great pleasure to listen to my dogs get ready for meals, and eat and drink with such joy.