Old Dog

These pics were snapped the other day by the Ballerina on her i-pod. I thought that they were just gorgeous shots of our old dog. Matilda has been with us for a very long time. Almost as long as The Teen and certainly longer than The Ballerina. It was in fact over 16 years ago when she came into our lives as a dear little puppy. She was bright eyed and excitable, but such a loyal and happy dog. Throughout her years, she has survived a knee operation, cancer and being run over by the car. She is deaf and nearly blind now, unsteady on her feet and sleeps most of the time. She still loves her food, gets excited by the lawn mower and is happy to be patted and made a fuss of. It is only very recently that I have stopped talking her for walks, but she still goes around in a wobbly circle if she sees me in my runners!

I love the story of how we got her, and thought I would like to share it with you. 16 years ago I was working at a small rural kindergarten (ironically I am working there again now) The children had excitedly ran to the fence to talk to a man on a bike. He had several puppies in a basket on the front of the bike. I got talking to him and he told me that the black and white puppies were for two local farmers and he was in the process of delievering them. "But what about the brown and white one?" I asked. He told me that he was going to drown her in the river. I was horrified and told him that he could not possibly do that. He informed me that she was not a smart dog and was not suited to farm life and would have no purpose. I immediately declared that I would have her and he promptly opened the gate and handed her to me, laughing, saying "Don't say you weren't warned"

Well as it turns out, Matilda certainly is not the smartest of dogs. I'm sure our guinea pigs used to laugh at her tripping over her own feet, but we love her and are trying to cherish the time that we have left with her, as I am sure that won't be for too much longer.