It's four days until I travel to Edinburgh to train with Annie. I can't believe she will be dog number 4 for me in 9 years. People always ask 'What happened?'. It's always easy to say Berry had a career change because she didn't like being a guide dog. I have had to come to terms with the fact that because she went to Dogs for the Disabled I will probably never get to know when she passes away. She will be 10 in September. Sandie has arthritis in her elbows and hips and considering her heavy workload did well to work until her 8th birthday. She lives with my mum and I see her often.
Connie is number 3 and I think will always be the hardest to talk about and explain. Usually I stick to 'She was very poorly and can't work any more.'. It's not only that she worked for 13 months but also because our first walk could have been our qualifying work, we just clicked. It was horrible to watch her be so poorly, leaving her for emergency surgery not knowing if she would survive and then nursing her back to health. I know ultimately it was the best decision for both of us and with time it will get easier.
For the past 6 weeks we haven't had a dog in the house. It's been very quiet indeed. 4 weeks ago I received the most unexpected call to say they had a match for me. I expected to wait months because I had been so lucky and only waited 2 weeks for Sandie and 4 weeks for Connie. 5 days later they brought Annie to meet me.....
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