A post should appear every Sunday

Sunday August 27th 2023

Please excuse the very basic level of communication here, but feeding and cleaning up after Isis are tasks I need to be sure I can do before bringing her home. In the days before I have the operation, I try several positions and manoeuvres which might enable me to look after her properly.

Fortunately, she’s always had a raised stand for her food and water, so it’s not necessary to reach down to floor level, which I definitely can’t do. Through trial and error, I work out that if I transfer my left hand from an imaginary crutch to the kitchen counter, bend my right knee while lifting my left (to be operated on) leg, knee straight, up and out behind me, I can pick up and replace her dishes.

Very balletic! But it works. True, I slop water from the drinking bowl onto the floor, but no-one is perfect!

In some ways, the cleaning up task is harder, as I have to be able to reach to ground level. On the other hand, the target is lighter, and easier to lift. Out I go into the garden. Yes, the challenge here is bending down low enough without falling over. I discover I can do it, in a move similar to the feeding one – but only if I use both hands. This means emerging from the house with my right hand swathed in a dog bag, then dropping the still, as yet, imaginary crutch on top of a swathe of grass, or a low shrub, depending, of course on where the item has been deposited. Simultaneously, I stretch my operated on left leg out behind me. Now my two hands and one leg form a stable tripod, and I am able to lift up my right hand momentarily, grasp the full dog bag and stand to retrieve the crutch. Leaning against the exterior of the house enables me to tie the bag.

Hey Presto! Task accomplished.

Good. I’m sure to improve with practice, I decide. As long as I feel well enough, I should be able to let Isis come home after a week.

Although she’s clearly delighted to be home, I am concerned that she is having a very unstimulating life.

This doesn’t appear to bother her, though. Much to my amazement, within a couple of days of being home, the dear little dog pulls out all of the stops, and adjusts herself to the new situation.

She remains on the day bed when I get up in the morning, and go upstairs to get washed and dressed. This is usually about nine. Then, when getting up time for dogs is signalled, she leaps eagerly to her feet, keen for her day to begin.

She actually stands still, which is previously unheard of, while I clip her collar on, then follows me to the back door and into the garden for a pee. She likes to leave her duties at that, and rushes back in for breakfast; however, I persuade her to return to the garden to complete the next step.

She is magnificent. She doesn’t walk in front of me, or beside me, or attempt to overtake me; instead, she walks a few inches behind me, touching the back of my leg with her nose now and again to check my position.

Yet when my friend M. from Uppingham visits, Isis walks nonchalantly around and in front, and beside her as normal. It’s M, in fact, who notices and points out how careful Isis is being around her me.

The Hairy One is also unusually affectionate, pushing herself into my side, and resting her head on me.

During one somewhat chilly night, I wake to find my right leg cold while my left knee, under Hairy One’s fluffy tail is deliciously warm.

But just in case I should become too soppy and sentimental, I have to say that she hasn’t gone completely soft – she isn’t kind to poor Blitzi when he comes round with Y for coffee.

She is sleeping soundly in the back room when they arrive, but quickly picks up her doomed visitor’s scent, and soon arrives in the front room to menace him.

Deaf and blind though she is, she’s merciless. First she sniffs him out and stands stiffly in front of him, then she lies on the rug, close to the door, blocking the poor dog’s escape route. When she next makes a move, Blitzi decides to take no risks, and leaps onto Y’s lap for protection.

His expression says it all, I think!

Setting aside her dismal record as a host, she is angelic, consistently undemanding, even when I fall asleep and it’s well past her breakfast or tea time.

She moves, without growling, to allow me to access my place on the day bed, and now, after a minute or two, withdraws her paws when I stretch down my feet.

We’ve been back almost three weeks now, and she’s still content to just go out in the garden when necessary, play with her toys after eating, follow me into the front room if we have a visitor, and for the rest of the time lie snoozing with me on the daybed.

Whoever would have believed she could be so co-operative?

Dear little dog.

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.