Friday, November 09, 2007

Friday Diversion: When Your Dogs Go Deaf

Two of my beloved labs (seen on the right) are getting up there in age. The oldest is nearly 14, and the black lab is nearly 11. The two of them are totally deaf, but happy. On cold mornings like the one today in Atlanta (cold for me at least, 33F) they refused to be awakened for a walk.

These four legged family members have heard me mutter about the law on walks, have listened to me practice my legal arguments, and have on my occasion wagged their tails furiously (surely in agreement) when I vented about the failures of the legal system.

It's new territory when what was once taught to help in field work - hand signals - now becomes the only way to communicate. Today I worked with them in total silence and realized how changes come whether you are ready or not. I vowed to spend more time with each, seeing how each still loves the attention.

I hope that when I'm that old someone will have remembered to go over hand signals with me.