Mary's story

Mary is an elderly, rather fragile friend of mine, and this is her dog story.  She was brought up in a village in rural Essex, the oldest of four children, and responsible by nature.  Mary desperately wanted to be a good older sister, and she set her heart on taking her little sister Katie for a walk to the village shop, on their own.

After many weeks, maybe months of asking, eventually her Mother thought that she was grown up enough for the challenge.

Mary was enormously proud to be given the responsibility, she held little Katie firmly by the hand as they set off.  Together they walked to the village shop, where they bought some sweets with their pennies.  On the way back a big black dog appeared out of nowhere and bit Katie on her leg.  It was a horrible shock.

Mary returned with a sobbing Katie to hand back to her mother.  By contrast Mary was silent, she barely even had the words to explain what had happened.

This incident made my friend Mary fearful of dogs from the age of six, for almost the rest of her life.  Even the sight of a dog made her panic and bring back the feelings of fear.  The older she became the more intrenched the fear seemed to become. 

Happily, this story ends well … 

Mary had two children, her son Mark has special needs, that made him eligible for an assistance dog.

As an adult Mark came home one day with a Labradoodle puppy called Archie, who was suitable to be trained to become an assistance dog.  Since the puppy was so small and sweet, Mary was able to get to know him without feeling afraid. 

With a lot of practice and time spent with Archie the puppy, gradually Mary began to overcome her fears.  In time, Archie the tiny puppy became Archie the quite large, well-trained, assistance dog. 

Now, whilst she’s still probably more of a cat person, Mary is no longer afraid of dogs.

So, yes, old dogs can learn new tricks.

Photo:          Archie the Labradoodle