The Day!

Blog 13 September 15 2011

The Day!

The day has been like no other. I have started university and have been traveling back and forth without to many mishaps. My pace is slower and it’s hard to focus but today was the hardest. This is the day that Jagger and I would have celebrated our 5 years together as a guide dog team, to the day. I know it has been 3 months since he passed away but he let me know that he was still watching out for me and hanging around.

This morning on my way to class there was a lady who was walking her dog. She had one of those extendable leashes with a gentle collar the ones that goes around the neck and snout. The dog was pulling her around and she was yelling at the dog “I am fed up with this and you better start listening” as the dog plunked firmly on the ground and looked at her in that silly manner as to say what’s wrong? As she got close to me I asked if her dog was friendly, and I asked if I could pet her dog?(Buddy) she said yes he is friendly and yes I could pet him. I stretched out my hand he immediately sat to my left and just looked at me while I petted him for me it was like petting Jag’s but smaller. Buddy sat the same way Jags would sit  I would pet the top of his head and wait for the bus while I petted  the top of his head. I checked the collar and told her it was twisted up and the type of leash she was using was not a good one for that type of collar. I further explained to her that this collar is to keep your dog tight and slow it’s pace that can only be achieved if you have control.

I learned all this by having a Big Dog! Who thought he was a small puppy and as he taught me these collars are only good if you know what you’re doing.

I spent the bus ride and most of my day thinking about all he adventures at the bus stop, you might think how much, adventures could you have at a bus stop? Trust me if you knew Jagger you could understand.

It was a cool damp day with drizzle this was Jag’s weather he could work and walk for hours in this type of weather I know because we use to. On the way home from class I stopped at his favorite spot, were he could take a break sniff look at the squirrels and birds get his cookie and water get a scratch and come home to see mom and Chris and just be his silly self.

I said a prayer for him, left the park and headed to the bus stop and came home read the Rainbow Bridge poem looked at some photos and just remembered the people we met all the joy he brought to others the fun we had and all of our travels all in 5 short years.

We still miss him a lot but thank God everyday for having him in our lives. He made us laugh and everyday you could always count on a new Jagger story make you laugh if you were sad.