In the immortal words on Julie Andrews, let’s start at the very beginning. A very good place to start.
One word, Poodle. We got Poodle from Act2 Pups – a rescue for senior dogs. An amazing organization actually run by Linda Hunt. She pulls senior dogs from metro Atlanta shelters, gets them vetted, cleans them up – a lot have been through unimaginable abuse and neglect – and finds homes for them.
We were not looking for a senior dog – or a dog at all. Had 2 already and a cat. But off I went and hung out with a 12 year old bag of bones the whole afternoon. Two days later Poodle appeared at our home. Blind, deaf and very fragile. He would just pace continuously, tottering along on little stick legs. A barricade went up in our back yard so he couldn’t get near the pool and our kitchen transformed into a Poodle pen where he slept.
Problem is he didn’t sleep a lot. Poodle was a lot of work, a lot of noise, a lot of cleaning. I work at Starbucks, opening shift a few mornings a week. Many were the mornings I was bathing that dog in the kitchen sink at 3am before leaving for work. Poodle was a lot. But we loved him and miss him and he inspired my haikus.
When you arrived
You blindly paced and did not –
Sleep! Poodle you home.
This is a podcast, you can’t see the exclamation mark behind Sleep!
He did not sleep. I shouted Sleep! At him many times in the early hours.
Of course it fell on deaf ears.