Madeline Roo and Matilda Sue just celebrated their twelfth birthdays. They’re not really puppies but will always be OUR PUPPIES. They’re sisters, from a litter holding fourteen little gray and black mottled, squirmy, thieves. That’s right thieves, right down to the “permanent” bandit mask across Maddie’s face. Every day, they continue to steal a little bit of my heart.
It’s early morning and I am watching the eastern sky lighten…I’m also watching Tilly navigate the yard. Tilly doesn’t have a bandit mask but she steals my heart anyway. She comes and sits with me in the early morning as I try to put thoughts and words together on this electronic version of paper. I find it comforting to see her or her sister laying in the recliner next to me, sleeping so very non-canine like, on their backs, feet stuck up in the air. Sometimes they scare me, so deeply asleep I must wake them just to make sure….
Tilly is awake and moving, nose to the ground. Every morning, I watch…just in case. She pauses and then circles around a large clump of periwinkle. She has picked up the scent of the bunny living there. After searching, she continues her voyage of exploration, circumnavigating the yard. At the wood pile, she stops to greet the ground squirrel living behind it. Maddie is upstairs with her mommy but will eventually make the same trip. I’ll watch, just in case.
It’s been over two years since Tilly began to go blind. It was rapid, something about dog years. Her sister followed a year later and they are both now sightless. A genetic defect will claim every one of their litter mates. I wonder if they see when they dream? The question makes me hurt and tear up. They seem to have taken their blindness much better than their mommy and daddy.
They make me smile…knowing they remember. Barking at the squirrel, no longer in the hemlock tree or sitting near the persimmon tree waiting for the possum that is somewhere else to come down. Tilly recently brought me a mole, so proud she wanted to share. While I feel sorry for the mole I’m glad it’s not the possum she used to bring me and yet happy she can still find something to bring.
They make me sad…knowing they can’t see. Maddie reminds me daily when she comes over to the recliner I’m not sitting in to get her belly rubbed. She will paw even though I’m not there. I miss them trying to herd squirrels, birds and each other.
It’s taken some adjustment. Old feed bags filled with newspaper used as buffers against hard and sharp objects. Special care not to block learned pathways. New commands like, “Watch your nose, watch your nose” or “Step, step, steps” have been learned, and yet I am amazed to see Tilly scale a rock wall, just like she did when she could see, and then later come down the same wall.
They still play their blue heeler games. Games only they understand. They are playing now, nose to nose, nipping at each other’s muzzles…somehow knowing where the other one is and able to pull up just short. Friendly growls to remind them it’s just a game…and to remind us about the better things in life.
Those in the know told us we shouldn’t get litter mates. They were incorrect. Despite the recent trials and tribulations, it has been worth it. Maddie and Tilly are happy and in much better health than much younger dogs. Mommy has seen to that. No doubt I’m happier and in much better health because of her too…and my beautiful blind puppies.
Visit Don’s author’s page at https://goo.gl/pL9bpP or pick up a copy or download his new book, Musings of a Mad Southerner, at https://goo.gl/zxZHWO.
Ravings of a Mad Southerner 
Smith & I have a blind Boston Terrier who lost sight in one eye by age 2 and her other eye has a cataract that is growing to where she does not see well enough to jump up on the bed or into Smith’s lap in his recliner without several lunges and retreats before she dares to “launch” herself. Her eye Dr.; a wonderful Vet in Greenville, SC ,checks her sight every year but will not operate until that cataract clouds her remaining eye and she is then totally blind. Then she will operate on them both. But our “Lily” is almost 89 now, and Boston’s; her especially, have such stubby noses they don’t do well with breathing during surgery, so we can’t decide if we dare let our “baby” undergo that risky surgery; being put to sleep, in order to restore her sight. She is as precious to us a a “real child” and the thought of loosing her weighs heavy on the eventual decision we will have to make! God Bless your precious “Fur Babies”! I’m so glad they have each other and you two!
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Smith & I have a blind Boston Terrier who lost sight in one eye by age 2 and her other eye has a cataract that is growing to where she does not see well enough to jump up on the bed or into Smith’s lap in his recliner without several lunges and retreats before she dares to “launch” herself. Her eye Dr.; a wonderful Vet in Greenville, SC ,checks her sight every year but will not operate until that cataract clouds her remaining eye and she is then totally blind. Then she will operate on them both. But our “Lily” is almost 9 now, and Boston’s; her especially, have such stubby noses they don’t do well with breathing during surgery, so we can’t decide if we dare let our “baby” undergo that risky surgery; being put to sleep, in order to restore her sight. She is as precious to us a a “real child” and the thought of loosing her weighs heavy on the eventual decision we will have to make! God Bless your precious “Fur Babies”! I’m so glad they have each other and you two!
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Smith & I have a blind Boston Terrier who lost sight in one eye by age 2 and her other eye has a cataract that is growing to where she does not see well enough to jump up on the bed or into Smith’s lap in his recliner without several lunges and retreats before she dares to “launch” herself. Her eye Dr.; a wonderful Vet in Greenville, SC ,checks her sight every year but will not operate until that cataract clouds her remaining eye and she is then totally blind. Then she will operate on them both. But our “Lily” is almost 9 now, and Boston’s; her especially, have such stubby noses they don’t do well with breathing during surgery, so we can’t decide if we dare let our “baby” undergo that risky surgery; being put to sleep, in order to restore her sight. She is as precious to us a “real child” and the thought of loosing her weighs heavy on the eventual decision we will have to make! God Bless your precious “Fur Babies”! I’m so glad they have each other and you two!
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Thank you .
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Very sweet, Don. I had a blind dog, Melanie. Diabetes took her sight but she was able to get around with the help of our American Bulldog. Canines are very resilient. I know how you feel about your girls since they are seniors. My Maggie (Boston Terrier) turned 9 in February. Health and well wishes to all of you.
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And to you and your puppies!
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Thanks, Don!
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