More from Judy Gooding

Posted by TeamCharlie on January 28, 2009 under Wags for Hope | Be the First to Comment

This is the second post of guest blogger Judy Gooding.  She is one of our Wags for Hope volunteers who partnered with Eva, a sweet Doberman Pinscher, who sadly passed away in 2008.

Mrs. G especially loved her visits with Eva, so we made a point of dropping by her room during each trip to the nursing center.  On one visit, she greeted us with her same beautiful smile, but her heart didn’t seem to be in it.  She was sitting on the side of her bed, so I knelt on the floor beside her and Eva cozied up to her for her usual scratches and pets.  Mrs. G and I had been chatting for a minute or two when she picked up a framed paper that looked quite old from her bed, handed it to me and asked if I could tell her what it was.  She seemed sad and frustrated that she didn’t recognize it.  As I looked the paper over, I told her it was a poem, a beautiful poem, about a person.  She was still drawing a blank.  I turned it over, and, on the back, there was a note from the poet, dated in the 1960’s, saying that the poem was written in honor of Mr. G.  At the mention of her deceased husband’s name, Mrs. G hung her head and quietly began crying.  Now, I had trained Eva to not lick people, and she was very good about following that rule, no matter what the temptation.  But on this day, she knew that the right thing to do was to reach her face up to Mrs. G’s and gently lick the tears away.  Mrs. G laughed softly as the tears flowed and hugged Eva, her spirits visibly lifted.  She talked a few minutes more about the poem and her husband before Eva and I said our good-byes.  When we were finally outside, I showered my sweet pup with my own hugs and tears.

 
Mr. B had spent 30 years training seeing-eye dogs and had been a judge for obedience trials.  He enjoyed putting Eva and me through our obedience paces from his wheelchair in the hallway of the nursing section.  One day I was laughing with him about Eva doing a lot better if he were her handler because I was such a novice.  It turned to a more serious discussion of dogs and handlers, and he said something that day that was so profound that I found myself wishing I had had these words of wisdom for Eva’s entire training experience….. “It’s never the dog!”