A post should appear every Sunday.

Sunday October 9th 2022

The tasty additions to Hairy One’s meals continue to transform her attitude to food. I think that the poor dog must have been bored with the taste and smell of the menu Human provided day in, day out.

Now she has mince with her dry food at breakfast and other tempting additions served for her supper, for example:

grated cheese

a fat sardine or mackeral

high quality wet food with rice, peas and carrot

Chappie mixed into  a gravy with a little hot water

She is very eager to eat, and clears her bowl at breakfast and supper. Now, I decide, is the optimum time to work at eliminating her defensive behaviour around food. As she begins to eat, I slip round the corner and take up my position in the room next door to the kitchen.

This time round, I am determined that I will not allow myself to be half-hearted. At the very first woof, I walk swiftly into the kitchen.

But instead of arguing about who has possession of the bowl, taking it away and plonking it on the side and provoking a spate of frenzied twirlin, growing and barking, I try simply lifting her feeder an inch and then replacing it immediately, before she has time to fly into a rage.

It works.

And when she utters a second woof, I give her a gentle poke with my index finger. Only twice this week, has she given a third woof and received a second gentle poke; also, I have to admit, the bark is very muffled, very different from the resounding cacophonies which bounced off the kitchen walls twice a day.

The last two days have been even better: I’ve responded to the opening woof by rocking the feeder briefly, then adding the gentle poke, and that’s been that. And twice, I’ve not had to intervene at all, instead, have just stood still enjoying the blissful sound of contented chomping, followed by claws rattling their way towards her bed where she relaxes and settles with her toys.

What heavenly delight.

She is preparing for winter, and is astonishingly bright and fluffy. I think that clipping her in the summer has made her coat even thicker than it was before.

Every time we go out, she provokes ‘oos’ and ‘ahs’ and people of all ages want to stroke her. People who have not come across her before want to know what she is and where she came from. A few notice her eyes, or see that she is about to walk into them, and ask if she is blind. Most are incredulous if they discover that she is deaf and blind after seeing her navigating the park.

I have had many very interesting conversations which just wouldn’t have happened if Isis hadn’t been with me.

Isis came from Aeza cat and dog rescue in Aljezur, Portugal. For information about adopting an animal from the centre, contact kerry@azea.org or go to http://www.dogwatch.co.uk.