Spaniel Reminiscing

“Oh, hello. Nice to meet you. My name is Ginny. I’m a girl-dog, a Brittany spaniel. My dad likes to quote this movie we watch sometimes and call me “a Brittany-a-Spanish-girl” Crazy man that he is. That dog was a cocker spaniel, but he likes it, so I go with it. I’m French, though, really.” She looked over her shoulder, pointing out her orange spots across her otherwise white coat.

Ginny turned back to her new friend. “A couple years ago I got a disability. Oh, no, don’t worry about me. I’m ok. I just can’t walk very well anymore. My parents used to take me on long walks. No more.” She sighed.

The cardinal on the other side of the sliding glass door must have been freezing to death. He returned to the crab apple trees in the few warm days of March 2020. Michigan thawed, and there were a lot of last year’s berries to be eaten yet. The home’s owners set out birdseed every day too. There would be suet some days (today was an orange flavor that only the woodpeckers could enjoy). Thistle hung in a sock for the goldfinches every day. Cardinals couldn’t eat that. Every other day though, the sunflower seeds came out! Mixed birdseed was shared by sparrows, grackles, doves, and lots of birds… but the Cardinals got real feisty over the sunflower seeds. This red bird was chewing on one right now, seeming to listen to a dog’s tale.

The night was coming, and snow was building up over the seeds Ginny’s owners threw out. Ginny rarely saw her parents eating together at the dinner table, but tonight they had cooked pork ribs. They cooked them in the oven for the past three hours. Both of them gave little bites to her during dinner!

“I bet you like those seeds.” The cardinal just looked at her and pecked a few more seeds off the deck. He turned around without answering Ginny and flew onto the railing between the crab trees and Ginny’s door. Ginny licked her paws and smiled back up at the bird she could barely see. Her eyes were getting older too. The corners of her mouth were curled up in a smile, though, and her tongue hung out slightly. She made a few panting sounds and then laid her head down on the soft welcome mat.

“Those ribs were so great!” Ginny was daydreaming now. “I can’t believe mom even gave me a bone at the end.” Her parents stopped giving her bones after she had some digestive issues a while back. No problems tonight, though!

Her mind searched back for other fond memories. “Those walks!” Recalling the smell of the rabbit hole in the ravine by the rich people’s neighborhood was a sweet one! And the ducks on the pond in the big loop. Dad used to let her run while he biked that one! He could move so fast on that bike. “But I was faster,” Ginny reminisced. She smiled again and propped her head back up off the mat.

A little brown multi-speckled house sparrow had come in for a snack. It hopped around the seeds still on the deck. The snow was in its way, but it just shoveled it aside with its tiny beak.

The cardinal came swooping back down. Every time a little bird tried to get food while the male cardinal was there, it led to fights. Well, more like intimidation. Big Red would fly down, and the speedy sparrow would avoid him, flying off the deck. Ginny made a mild growling noise and sniffed to her right. She could almost smell those sparrows in the boxwood bush at the side of the house. “Nice work Red, I like chasing sparrows too. Got one a few years ago in a rainstorm.”

Big Red hopped up to the sliding door again. Another sunflower seed failed to hide in its snow den. Ginny took the chance to talk more. “Have you heard of Covid?” The bird said nothing. “I didn’t think so. My parents mention it from time to time. I think whatever it is caused them to stay home all week. It’s like when we used to vacation together! My parents would take me camping. We would do everything together! I still go with them sometimes, but I can’t keep up any more. It’s so nice to have them home. Hang on a sec, let me get a drink.”

Ginny got up, rear legs first, which made her look like she was bowing to the bird. She slowly extended her front legs and tried to turn. Her water bowl was on the other side of the kitchen, five steps away. Her legs didn’t sequence anymore, so she hopped halfway around, then took one more lunge to turn about. The floor was slick, and one of her paws slid out from under her. Although that hurt her elbow, she pressed on. Both back feet forward, then both front feet ahead. Sometimes she slid her head along on the ground to steady herself. Her spinal cord issues really affected her walk, but her eyes were still bright and alive. Her grin even showed a lot of joy!

“Hey girl, you doing all right?” Mom was always right there when the dog was making noise now. She petted Ginny as she took a drink. Ginny looked up, thankful her mother wasn’t working as much anymore. She lapped up more water.

Decisions: “Should I go back to talk with Red, or should I sit on the couch with mamma.” Ginny looked one way to the back door, and the bird was gone. She looked the other way at dad in his chair and decided to join the family! They were watching Netflix. They watch a lot of Netflix now, and that was fine with Ginny.

Dad got up, seeing his dog wobble down the hallway after his wife. “Let me help you, girl.” He picked her up and brought her to her mother’s couch. Ginny’s favorite blanket, from Valentine’s Day ten years ago, was all laid out. Dad set her on it, and mom sat right next to her petting behind that good dog’s ears.

In her youth, this would drive Ginny crazy. She was always so active. “I remember when we used to do agility out in the yard!” She thought to herself, looking at mom. “I remember that crazy hoop tunnel you would try to get me to speed through. And weaving in and out of those ski poles! We were so crazy back then.”

Now she couldn’t do much more than sit and lay. Netflix from the couch was her favorite thing now! Truthfully, she didn’t watch the shows. She was just glad to have her people by her side. Recently, with mom and dad at home all the time, she was the happiest eleven-year-old puppy in the world!