Monday, March 14, 2005

Compassionate Mermaid

Dexter, my 12 year old golden retriever, has recently started showing signs of aging. I am pretty sure his hearing is almost gone. He can still process loud noises, in fact they make him skittish. Otherwise he is not hearing up to par – if that is the worst of his aging then he and I can be real thankful.

I spent the weekend with my 9 year old niece, Little Mermaid. Half of the time we were at my Mom and Dad’s house. Saturday evening after dinner, Little Mermaid, her parents and I were going to leave and head to the movies. Then I would spend that night at her house. Dexter was going to stay at my parent’s house.

As the rest of us were getting our coats on, Little Mermaid went over to Dexter to say good bye. He was laying quietly on one of my Mom’s love seats, his snout in between his front paws. He was watching Mermaid with his eyes. She decided since he could not hear she would pantomime our agenda. So I watched her “act” out our itinerary. Dexter’s eyes were following her arm movements and gestures very carefully. She used her fingers to show how we would be walking out the door and used the standard charades symbol for watching a movie. When she was done, she kissed him on the head and assured me that he completely understood and okayed our plans.

I love that kid!!

1 comment:

Susie said...

Heart-warming, that's the word I'm looking for. What a sweetheart your niece is, thanks for sharing. You can't beat a good kid/dog story:)