Guide Doggy Blog 2
Hello, Molly here. Reporting in for the first time in a couple of weeks. And what a couple of weeks it has been whilst I’ve been getting my paws under the table at the Wordsmith’s and turning her life upside down and tearing her heartstrings to pieces. That’s my puppy job, and I am already an expert.
Something called ‘snow’ has happened since I arrived here. It’s white. It’s cold. And it’s very slippery. It also meant going outside to do my toilet was a bit uncomfortable at times and so sometimes when it was all shivery outside, I'd just go out, sniff around and come inside where it was much more cosy to crouch. Sometimes, I simply refused to go out at all when there was lots of the white stuff; it was quite good fun standing on the step watching the Wordsmith outside in the cold in her dressing gown wearing a very fetching hat, trying to lure me into the yard with not even a food reward to persuade me that stooping in the cold was ever going to be worth my while. I’ve no excuse now; it’s all melted and the yard has even been cleaned for my little paws. I'm trying hard to be good and to go when I'm told to 'be busy'.
What else have I done since I’ve arrived? Well I have found my voice for one. I think the Wordsmith thought I was a delicate little flower who wouldn’t say boo to a goose when I first walked in the door, but she knows different now. I’m developing my bark and searching for that magic pitch that she’ll not be able to resist and will HAVE to give me the attention I deserve. I especially like to use this bark in the evenings when the Wordsmith has settled down to watch something on that moving screen in the lounge. I accompany the barking with a bit of whining and some nips of my needle-sharp teeth, and animate the show with some uncoordinated leaping and jumping at feet and slippers. But I don’t push my luck too much. When it’s time for bed, I go into my special pen and curl up and they don’t hear a peep out of me until the morning so fair’s fair in my view.
I may not be able to walk out anywhere yet, but I’ve already been to quite a few places. Before my first week was out, I’d been taken in the car to a posh hotel in Derbyshire so that the Wordsmith could enjoy what she said was ‘afternoon tea’. I announced my arrival in the private dining room with a big widdle on my continence pad, but then settled down and slept for most of the afternoon whilst the lot of them stuffed their human faces with delicate little cakes and crustless sandwiches. It was freezing cold, but they wrapped me in a blanket and carried me down the lane and cooed about how exciting it would be to bring me here ‘when I’m old enough to walk’. I thought it looked great too, with lots of fields and ditches and footpaths to explore.
Last week was been very busy. The Wordsmith wasn’t very well the week after I arrived with something she said was a lurgy, but sounded like a cold to me. She then kept complaining of something called cabin fever, which I take to be a follow-on from a bout of the lurgy that affects these humans when they haven’t been able to get out. Anyway, as a result I went in the car to visit the curtain lady in her shop when the Wordsmith delivered a big roll of fabric to her that I’d been dying to get my teeth into! I liked Louise and she even took a photo of me to show to her daughter. I fell asleep in the back of the car on the way home and had to be carried indoors, just like thr time when I came back from Waitrose, where I wowed the entire store and where it took the Wordsmith twice as long to get her shopping as it would normally do. I had to pose for pictures, and pretend I couldn’t smell the chickens going round and round on the rotisserie. After all that adoration, I got taken to a coffee shop where I fell asleep under the table and no one noticed I was there!
Today, I’ve spent quite a long time in the garden, ostensibly for exercise until I can go out properly, but it was mainly me eating everything I could find. Last week, I melted the hearts of the builders next door and met the lady opposite, who whisked me up in her arms and asked my keeper how she was ever going to be able to give me up. That’s the first I’ve heard of that. I want to stay here forever. Anyway, I’d just taken myself off to bed when I was lifted up and carried up the road and taken on my very first bus journey. I was very good; I stayed on the Wordsmith’s lap and didn’t try to wriggle free, and I didn’t take any notice of the air brakes or the cars going by when we got off.
The Guide Dog supervisor lady came to check up that the Wordsmith had been treating me right on Wednesday and I slept through the entire thing. I think the Guide Dog lady was happy with how things are going as I could hear happy chat and laughter through my half sleep at their feet. The Wordsmith has been told to ignore me when I do my attention-seeking routine, though. Hah! We’ll see about that. I’m just having a rest so that I am in full voice ready for whatever tv programme she thinks she’s going to watch tonight. I think my counter performance spoiled Call the Midwife for the Wordsmith last Sunday so I'm saving myself for 8 o'clock when it's on again. When one of the characters was dying of meningitis during last week's episode, I was spoiling for a fight and playing tug of war with my ragger toy.
Like I said, attention is my aim and getting it is my job. I may be destined to be a guide dog one day, but I’m going to enjoy my puppyhood while I can. The Wordsmith has got a book to edit, but I'm proving to be a bigger draw than university extension lectures, although I'm just settling down for a sleep so maybe she can get on with some work for a while!
Woof woof till next time.
