Yesterday was an extra special day in the Strachan household – my beautiful retired guide dog, Eccles, turned 14 years old… and that’s not 14 doggy years, it’s 14 human years.
Back when I decided to embark on a career as a writer and speaker working in the disability field Eccles took the opportunity of retiring herself. I think she secretly enjoyed the engineering talk that she was exposed to when we worked at the marine engineering firm. Maybe she just didn’t feel that an artistic career was the right one for her.
I’ve been highly amused to observe that Eccles has started being naughty over the past few months – it’s almost like she’s rediscovered her inner naughty puppy. it’s not unusual to find her sniffing around in the kitchen for any possible overlooked scraps of food (you know, the ones her eagle-eyed doggy sister Emily might somehow have missed). Eccles also seems to get a real kick out of pushing Fiji away from her water bowl and having a long, leisurely drink while poor Fiji has to stand around and wait. I’ve even found Eccles trying to scratch at the packet of dog crumbles that we keep under the shelf in the kitchen. I know I shouldn’t find it funny, but I do!
I also suspect Eccles had a temporary return to her engineering side – when Craig was installing our grey water system at home, Eccles could usually be found supervising his work.
I know Eccles is getting older and is almost entirely deaf. But she’s healthy, happy and remains a joy to us all in her own, newly-mischievous way.
Happy birthday, my Ecce-wekkie-waggy-woo – may we celebrate many more years with you.
Happy birthday Eccles! Enjoy every moment rekindling your puppy times.
Happy birthday EccleS! I’ve heard you eat with your friends, you sound pretty healthy. LOL
Happy Birthday Eccles thank yougir being so faithful to Lois and her family
Thank you, Sylvia – Eccles is still such a treasure, although it’s hard to experience her growing older, no matter how gracefully she’s doing so