Chag Sameach!

We've been so busy traveling and celebrating that we've hardly had time to write. Our Pesach adventure began with a train trip to Lev Hamifratz and crossing a major intersection, which I don't think I would have dared to do without Suki. I counted no less than a dozen crossings and traffic Islands to cross the bus station and Haifa-Acco Road to the other side and then cross the road leading east. No one was there to help us. We did it all by ourselves, Suki and I.

After a few hours being tied up outside the small coffee house where we set up our Seder, Suki was rewarded with a run through the citrus groves at Kibbutz Sarid, and then behaved very nicely while 29 of us worked our way through the Haggadah and then a lovely Seder meal.

Here are Rotem and Suki, looking very nice side by side with Rotem wearing a T shirt from Beit OVed with a puppy looking very much like Suki.



I'll let her tell you about her first encounter with the Mediterranean.

WooooooooooooooW! I thought the stream in Ben Ami was the epitome of fun in the water until I was let off the leash on the beach in Nahariya! There's nothing like this! First you go dashing in, and then the water comes and chases you back out again! It's like magic! And then you stand on the sand and the water rolls in and jumps at you and you can't resist going in again! I simply couldn't stop, and that was fine, seeing as everyone was busy taking pictures of me diving in and running out again. Only thing is, it doesn't taste like water. It's salty. And I had to get a thorough drying off before I as allowed in the car again. I wonder why…maybe it was the familiar eau de wet canine perfume I love so well…

Wow! I could do this for hours!

Wow! This is as good as going up and down escalators! First you run down the bank at full tilt and jump into the water...


Then you run back up the bank, shake off all the excess freezing cold water all over Bracha...


then run down the bank and do it all over again...

\

and then dry off in the sun.

Feeling a bit Under the Weather

Suki's tummy ache no doubt stemmed from that bad habit dogs have of snatching anything up from the sidewalks, whether it is good for them or not. After reading horrifying stories on the Internet about life-threatening ailments of the canine digestive system, I realized that I was suffering from an acute case of over-information. The dog was active and far from lethargic, and her tail continued to wag. She would have cheerfully continued to eat had I given her the opportunity, was not in pain and not seriously ill. So I did what I had been told to do – I refrained from feeding Suki for a day. Sounds easy. It was not. When feeding time came for my perpetually hungry golden retriever, those soft dark eyes implored, "Where's my dinner already?" while the tail wagged and the paws rested pleadingly on my thigh. I stood firm, and gave her a bowl of rice water (with a few grains of rice in it). And this morning Suki was as good as new. I gave her a small bowl of rice just to make sure, and in the evening she got a real meal – half of her usual food quantity with more rice. I think we're back to normal.

I admit I did feel more than a bit yucky when we returned from Rehovot. So Bracha put me on a one day fast! I begged and pleaded, but she stood firm. No food today until my tummy settled down. And the next day she gave me this funny white stuff instead of my real food. I was a bit out of it walking around town this morning. I kept searching the sidewalks for some morsel or other, but Bracha's hand on the harness was firm and did not let me wander over to those little piles of rubbish I love to explore. This afternoon she finally she gave me some of my real food again mixed with the stuff. When we walked to the store after I finally got a meal, and Bracha bought herself an ice cream. She stopped to talk to someone, and a little piece melted and fell down, and – well you know the rest.

I guess I'll never change. But I have decided that it's worth it to cooperate and have my teeth brushed. It's worth the treat afterwards.

Suki Goes to the Head of the Class

Suki was the center of attention at a seventh-grade English class in Rehovot where I went to give a presentation about guide dogs and people who are visually impaired. The children sat at rapt attention for two lessons, with a ten-minute break in the middle (spent mostly petting Suki) and asking questions. The kids were sharp in their questions, and quickly understood the essence of the mobility problems that blind people encounter: Here are some of the questions they asked and the gist of my answers:

How to you navigate in a strange town? (I ask people's help. I also described the final task of the course when we were deposited in the middle of the market in Ramla and told to find the district court building. We all got there.)

How do you know when to cross the street if there is no one there to help you or you don't know what the traffic is doing? (I stand at the stoplight for one or two cycles until I understand the sequence, and then cross when I am sure it's safe.)

Can't you drive a car any more? (I never drove a car. But I did ride a tandem bicycle with a sighted person steering!)

If you can still see a bit, how come you don't wear glasses? (Some problems with eyes can't be corrected with glasses.)

How do you find things that you lose in the house? (There are some things a dog can't help you with. I try and keep things in a pace, but sometimes, like everyone else, I lose things sometimes.)

 

Taking things into my own Hands

OK, I admit it. I made a mistake. But that hissing hoise from the shower really did sound like something dangerous, and I really felt I had to bark and bark and warn Bracha that something was really wrong. And Bracha listened to me, because I never bark unless there is a darned good reason. I know she was proud of me for barking, because she petted and praised me afterwards. After all, even the man who came said he thought there was a snake in the shower – that is, until he discovered that the strange noise was nothing but air in the pipes.

Sometimes, though, Bracha just doesn't get the hint. When I want a run through the fields or even in the basketball court, I show her. I stop at the corner to go to the basketball court, but she pointed me home. On the way I stopped at the point opposite the dirt road that leads into the field, too. I turned and put my front paws right at the curb. We've only been there once or twice, but I remembered the exact point where we have to cross the road and go into the field. No go. We headed home again. So yesterday I decided to take things into my own hands. We were sitting on the patio and Bracha was drinking coffee, and hadn't tied me up. I guess she wanted to see if I would stay with her. But when that cat took off towards the back and ran into the avocado orchard, well, that was it. I was off. I did get in a good run before Bracha came out with her whistle and called me back. She should know by now that I will always come back to her, even if I eat some fallen avocado on the way.

But I did have a good time yesterday when we finally did get out for a long hike. We went to the fields, and I ran and ran through the tall yellow flowers and there were white butterflies, too. Those poor dogs who live in the city! They don't know what they are missing!

But I miss Saoirse. Nuala comes home in the evenings, eats with me, and then lays down in her place by the couch, but she's not as sociable as Saoirse was. And I think Bracha misses Saoirse, too, despite the fact that she was always getting her up at night and she had to always be mixing medicines and pills into her food. And every evening Bracha takes a watering can and we go and water the flowers and the little plant on Saoirse's grave. The little seeds are starting to come up.

Tomorrow Bracha has promised that we will go to school again – this time all the way to Rehovot! I hope she gets off the train in the middle for a break. Two and a half hours of train travel is, er, a long time. But she's always considerate of my needs, so I think it will be OK. But I know what's coming this afternoon…a thorough brushing and more of that combing and perfume stuff. Ugh.

Suki's False Alarm

Yesterday evening at about 8:30 Suki began barking excitedly. Why is that so
exceptional? Because Suki seldom barks, and if she does, it's a single
low-pitched "WOOF!" Puzzled, I went to her and she stood at the doorway of
the shower. I opened the door and heard a strange hissing noise - the
unmistakable sound of a snake. Furtively I advanced into the shower with my
camera, hoping to snap a picture and then get a closer look at what was
going on. Nothing. The picture showed - the shower. The hissing noise
continued and Suki continued to bark.
Not wishing to deal with this alone, I called the neighbor from upstairs. I
really don't mind snakes, but I didn't trust my vision to determine if this
was something dangerous, should it come out from wherever it was hiding.
Together we called the police, who were unable to help us, the municipality
pset control staff who said they were not responsible, and finally, a snake
catcher.

A very nice young man named Dekel soon arrived. I told him what we were
hearing and we crept into the shower. The noise continued. Dekel, also
convinced that something similar to a viper was lurking in the drain,
stepped back and surveyed the area. Suddenly he laughed. He pointed to the
shower head. From the spout, which somehow had air trapped inside, came a
loud repetitious hisssssssssssssss!

I felt like an absolute idiot, but Dekel assured me that the noise had even
fooled him, and he had often been called to pursue such phantom snakes only
to find that there was no snake at all. I paid him NIS 100 for his trouble
and gas and he departed, leaving me a business card in case next time Suki's
alarm would not be a false one!

Amazingly, Suki still bears the instincts of any dog - something extraordinary in the house such as a strange noise, Saoirse in an aura before an epileptic attack, a tractor parked in a strange place - all make her feel uneasy. It is handy to have Suki around, even when she is not in harness, because I know she is capable of spotting a lot of things that I would not notice - even if they are not really cause for alarm. I recall my little dog Natasha standing over her bed, tail down, growling, and picking up her bed to find a black scorpion underneath, Saoirse standing in the yard barking at a hedgehog, and both dogs scrambling out of the house seconds before I felt an earthquake! What would we do without these creatures to warn us of potential danger??

Bath Time

Why is it that I just can't get Bracha to understand that I like getting wet in the river, in puddles, and at the beach, but I don't like it when she puts on a collar and leash and takes me into the shower. First of all, she seems to think that all that shampoo and stuff she puts on my fur smells good. I can't stand it. And then no matter how hard I try I just can't roll around the rug enough to get dry. Yesterday we went to the river and I took one look at the running water and made a charge straight for the gully. I came out and went back in again and again. But the river doesn't make me full of that perfume smell. Yuck! Bracha explained that we have to go to school in Rehovot next week and talk to children about guide dogs, and that I have to be extra clean and pretty. And no fleas, either. But still…isn't going in the river enough to get me clean? And did that tidbit she gave me after my bath really make up for having to stand in the shower dripping wet? I'm not so sure.

Still, it helped me keep my mind off my sadness a bit. Last night Nuala came in and we both lay down next to the sofa for a while before she went back outside. And Bracha has made a special place for Saoirse with pretty stones, and she planted flower seeds and put a little flower pot on it and she waters it every day. We see it when we are outside running in the grass in back. And if Saoirse is there, well I guess she sees us and runs with us in spirit, too.