After a full year of absence, The Blog of Dog is back. In the past year, we have added a new member to our family, Xek (pronounced "Zek.") As you can see, Xek is not exactly a spring chicken - he's over 10 years old.
In March of 2007, I casually skimmed an e-mail from a fellow rescue volunteer who had just returned from visiting our local shelter to see if there were any good candidates for our program. She mentioned a "GR - former seeing eye dog, 10." For reasons that I don't understand, I immediately sprang into action, calling the shelter and asking details. Did "GR" mean golden retriever? Why was he there? When could I come get him? The last question surprised me the most.
Xek's story is that his owner had suffered a massive stroke. The people at the nursing home to which she was admitted tried to care for Xek, but the responsibility and expense of caring for him was too much. Not knowing what to do with him, they surrendered him to the shelter. Seeing eye dogs are usually required to be returned to the center which trained them. Xek had fallen through the cracks.
Xek spent less than 48 hours in the shelter. As soon as I heard that he was available for adoption, he was outta there. Having two dogs has some challenges, but the benefits are well worth it. My first and foremost concern was that Xek got to be a dog and enjoy his retirement. He still does not have some of the instinctual behaviors of "regular" dogs, but he is enjoying all the new activities - swimming, going to the dog park, staying in bed until late. He and Dr. J enjoy a relationship akin to an old married couple. They don't dote on each other, but they definitely derive comfort from each other's presence.... and isn't that a great things to have?
1 comment:
he sounds really cute! My dog is called bella and she's 6 years old.
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