With Age Comes Resiliency.

The past few days I've been whining and complaining (to the dogs since there is no one else  here to listen) that I am aching from last Sunday's trick riding practice.  I probably overdid the riding in the heat but, the resulting pain has made me begin to wonder if I really am getting too old to do such a physical activity.

I guess everyone gets to that point at some time in their lives, some earlier and others.  But,  I could never see me conceding that point.  I sat at the computer thinking about this and was idly watching one of my Boston Terriers make her way through the living room, around the bar, through the kitchen, right turn at the utility room and then heard the sound of the doggie door swinging back and forth.

Now this doesn't sound all that noteworthy until you realize that she is 13 years old and totally blind.  Jazmine  lost one eye in a dog fight over a new Christmas toy several years ago and 2 years ago, she lost sight in the other eye due to cataracts. She is grayed out and her hair coat has patches of  missing hair .  She is by most standards, old and disabled.

I don't think Jazmine got that memo.  Weighing at around 10 pounds, she is by far the smallest dog here.  That fact has also escaped her.  As a young dog she was what we call 'scrappy'.  She would fight over food, toys or just for general purposes.  And the size of her opponent never fazed her.  Her personality was 'determined' on a good day and down right aggravating on most days.

Now, in her senior years and blind,  Jazmine is STILL 'scrappy' and 'determined' and Lord help me, but sometimes she aggravates me so badly I want to scream.  You see, Jazmine has not changed her mode of operation in anyway.  It does no good to yell, "Jazmine, get out from under my feet!"  She has no idea that she is under your feet and has no inclination to remedy that situation.  At feeding time, with 7 dog bowls on the floor, she eats her food with the ferocity of a lion then, using her nose, she locates the next nearest dog bowl and not caring if it is being used by the 180 pound Great Dane, she stumbles in, grabs the rim of the bowl with what teeth she has left and tries to drag it away from it's owner.  This invariably starts a dog fight.  EVERYDAY!

You see, Jazmine has always done that and even with her blindness and advancing old age, she doesn't even consider stopping that behavior.  It doesn't occur to her that she is 'too old' to do that.

And then there are her navigational skills.  She does not timidly move around, sniffing the ground but instead, walks confidently into walls and furniture.  You can hear the thump of her little head from other rooms.  But, she is totally unfazed.  She merely turns left or right and proceeds forward again.  Thump!  Right turn,   Thump, Left turn.  You get the pattern here?  Wouldn't you think she would just give up?

I watch her from my chair and I silently cheer her on.  She gives me  hope that with age, I have that same tenacity, that same resiliency.  Thump, turn, forward.  Thump....turn....forward