| Quoddy in Retirement I brought Beverly home to Maine after training with her for three weeks at The Seeing Eye. My instructor had told me to bring each pet dog outside, one at a time, to meet my new dog guide. I was supposed to do this before ever taking the new dog in the house. Accordingly we first brought out Quoddy. She kind of pinned her ears back and turned her head away as Beverly tried to greet her. Silver Girl, our Alaskan Malamute, showed signs of wanting to play with Beverly while Iris, our mixed breed dog who looked like a fox ignored her. Once we were all in the house Quoddy simply went to her usual place in front of the glass door and settled down. I led Beverly all around the house on leash so that she could see her new home. I then kept her beside me as we ate lunch. After lunch Jim took Quoddy back to work with him so that Beverly and I could relax together and Beverly could begin to become accustomed to her new home. Over the next few weeks life settled into its usual routine. Others who have kept a retired guide frequently speak of the retired dog wanting to get back in the harness. I've heard people tell of retired dogs who dash to their person whenever he or she picks up the harness. Quoddy, however, showed no sign of wanting to work again although she did indicate that she had a strong preference for coming with us whenever we left home. For the most part we were able to indulge her in this desire. Jim and I both worked as blind rehab specialists on an itinerant basis so we were on the road much of the time. Jim was able to take her with him on the road and was even able to take her into the office for a couple of years after her retirement. Co-workers and, especially, the children with whom Jim worked loved this. The children were thrilled to have the opportunity to pet Quoddy as they had never been able to do when she was working. Quoddy, for her part, seemed perfectly content to lie in Jim's office for hours at a time or wait patiently in the car while he worked with his students. We often joked that our car was actually a Subaru dog house. During the last few months of Quoddy's working life she often seemed slow and sluggish. We made a habit of climbing Cadillac Mountain at least once each summer. During the climb that year I honestly didn't know if the old girl was going to make it. Interestingly, after her retirement, Quoddy easily made the climb for three more years. This really brought home to me that Quoddy took her work very seriously. Once relieved of the responsibility of guiding me she seemed to have more energy to just enjoy life. Inevitably there were times when neither of us could take Quoddy with us. When we built our barn we placed it close enough to the house that we could connect the two at some future time. The time had come. When all was said and done Quoddy could go through a doggy door into the breezeway, through the door to the barn which we kept open, and then out another doggy door into a small pen we built for her. It would have been far easier to just put a doggy door in the door which led into the large pen where Silver Girl and Iris stayed but Quoddy would have none of it. She had been queen dog and by golly she was going to remain queen dog. Interestingly, Beverly seemed perfectly content with this arrangement. The Seeing Eye told me that dogs respect their elders. Nonetheless I doubted if Beverly, with her high level of energy, would be willing to be princess dog to Quoddy's queen dog. She was faster and much stronger than Quoddy but seemed to defer to her. True, Quoddy put Beverly in her place once a day for a while whether she needed it or not. This took the form of Quoddy pinning her ears back and doing that bark/growl thing that dogs do right in Beverly's face. Bev's response seemed to be something like, "Okay, you were here first." And then they'd both sort of shake and be friends again. Inevitably Quoddy's physical condition began to deteriorate after three or so years of retirement. For probably the last two years of her life she had trouble jumping into her Subaru dog house. We just began picking her up to put her in or take her out of the car. It was in the last two years of Quoddy's life that her behavior and personality really began to change. She was such a gentle soul that some of the changes were quite shocking. If she felt that we were way overdue in offering her a milk bone she'd march right up to the can in which we kept these treats and whop it with her paw. And heaven forbid we allow the water bowl to run dry. Believe me, a steel water bowl being batted across a tile floor will get your attention. Quoddy also became demonstrably affectionate in her old age. She would walk up to me where I sat on the couch and poke me with her nose asking to be petted. If I didn't produce the desired response she'd gently lay one paw on my knee. If I still didn't get the message she'd kind of whack me on the knee with her paw. Once I began petting her she'd stand or sit quietly for as long as I'd do it. We began to notice that when we arrived home from some jaunt or other Quoddy wouldn't stand up ready to be lifted out of the car. |
