| Daisy says Merry Xmas!
December 14, 2009
She's 15 years old and on her last legs but she still has spark.
About a month ago she finally recovered from (fairly simple) surgery to remove a large growth that was impeding her ability to walk.
We figure that her eager ability to enjoy life is a good reason for her to be here. She still wags her tail, fetches, obeys commands, and goes on a daily walk. She's losing her faculties so we keep a close watch. She's just inside the line. She's not incontinent, yet she is quite helpless. Our kids are finally old enough to appreciate and cherish her in this twilight time.
Henry likes this perspective of her, so last night he took this picture.
I note, in a little honorarium to Daisy, that in her prime she eagerly learned 34 commands. She insisted on fetching 3 different things at a time in a mixed-up order. She insisted on being trained in 3 different areas every day (fetch, tracking, pointing, etc.). I came to appreciate that a high potential dog (like any of the Versatile breeds) is also high maintenance. A dog that CAN learn a lot NEEDS to learn a lot, and will insist on it. I suppose that folks who try to treat such dogs like lay-on-the-floor seen-not-heard pets end up with TV show-type problems. She picked up complete hunting and sled-dog skills. But she was gun-shy. Sigh. My fault. I opted for a free rescue dog, thinking that there's such a thing as a (low-income) bargain in the dog world, without realizing that rescues come with baggage no matter what the previous owners say -- she'd been abused -- and never could adapt to a loud noise or the sight of a rubber hose. Of course luck is involved. It sure was fun working with her on skills. She only had that one missing link. And she was great to ski with until a couple years ago.
Lucy was reading her dog book the other day when she announced that Daisy is a companion dog. Then she read out loud to us: "A companion dog will wag its tail and open its mouth slightly in greeting when a member of the family returns home."
(I just checked the quote and see that the section is illustrated with a photo of...a Wirehair like Daisy.)
Daisy, the loyal, tenacious, life-loving German Wirehaired Pointer
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