Whitney, Continued

I am pleased to introduce new guest blogger Elisse Pfeiffer today – she and her husband live in Red Lion, Pennsylvania.

by Elisse Pfeiffer

Two weeks from now I’ll be meeting up with an old friend — one I haven’t seen in over eight years. You see, this particular friend has been very busy fulfilling her life’s purpose, and in doing so, she has been a great benefit to a wonderful woman who needed her to enhance her own quality of life.

My friend Whitney is an old lady now, about age 70 in human years, and she’s getting tired. I’m assured she is still in great shape, with many anticipated good years ahead of her, but as most of us know, age has a tendency to slow us down a bit, and our acuity begins to decline. We can still function, for sure, and continue to live a long and productive life, but when your job is to keep a person safe, you need to be 100% aware for 100% of the time you’re at work.

It’s time for Whitney to retire.

We have my daughter to thank for bringing Whitney into our lives. As a junior in her small country high school, Kate was President of the Leo Club. A junior division of the International Lion’s Club, the Leo Club encourages young people to do community service projects. Kate was 16, and she wanted to raise a puppy for the Seeing Eye.

I’m a dog lover, but I was reluctant at first: we already had a two-year-old Golden Retriever! Kate’s enthusiasm won me over, though, and shortly after we’d applied, we got a phone call from the Seeing Eye. An adorable six-week-old ¾ Yellow Labrador and ¼ Golden Retriever puppy named Whitney was available.

They told us we’d be required to attend frequent puppy-raiser meetings and go with our puppies as a group on outings to the movies, the airport, the malls, you name it. What they didn’t tell us was that our puppy would come with a four-inch-thick binder of instructions: commands to use, do’s and don’ts, other rules and regulations. Whew! This was going to be a lot of work!

Whitney, although cute as can be, was a handful. She did all the puppy things, but in mega-doses. She chewed up every toy we gave her, chewed up the molding in my dining room, ate countless shoes, and counter-surfed ad nauseum. She was so energetic that it bordered on her being crazy. We’d laugh at the way she spun around 2 to 3 times before laying down — I’m told she still does this!

She competed with our Golden Retriever, too. I’d throw a Frisbee as far as I could into our backyard and watch Whitney learning from Honey about retrieving toys. It didn’t take long before they reached the toy and brought it up together, tugging on it as they got closer to me, as if they were saying, “No! I’m bringing it to her!” Each dog eventually got her own designated playtime (to avoid the competition) and the two of them became great friends, often sleeping next to each other.

It was a great joy to raise Whitney, and it was hard to not get attached. Every single day I would tell Whitney that I loved her, but that she had a higher purpose. “You are going to be a great asset for a special person one day,” I’d say. I’m not sure if I was telling Whitney that for her sake or for mine, but I swear she understood. Her eyes are so expressive, and she’d wait for commands as if to say, “I’m here, I’m ready, what do you need from me?”

When we got the call that it was time for Whitney to go back to the Seeing Eye for her intensive training, we did our best to use our intellect over our emotions, remembering the original goal: helping someone we didn’t know who needed a dog to enhance their quality of life. An awesome thing.

The Seeing Eye sent us Whitney’s official graduation photo months later along with a letter saying Whitney had been given to an author in Chicago. We were so happy to hear she’d been matched with someone who we surmised was active, and later on, when we Googled “Blind author Chicago Whitney,” voila! Beth’s name appeared. We checked out Beth’s blog from time to time, but followed Seeing Eye rules and never contacted her directly.

Until a couple of months ago.

Our dearly beloved Honey had to be euthanized earlier this year after suffering renal failure, a result of that insidious disease called Lyme’s. Grief over that loss got me thinking about Whitney. I looked up Beth’s blog, only to read that after 8 years of awesome service, it was time for Whitney to retire. I commented to that blog post, letting Beth know I was glad to hear that Whit had been such a great dog for her and was sad that their time together had come to an end.

Beth emailed me personally then, assuring me Whitney would be in good hands with her great-niece Shelley in Minneapolis. Whitney and Shelley had developed a bond over the years, Shelley already had an older dog, Wilson, and was excited to take Whitney now, too.

I completely understood. With Whitney staying in the family, Beth and Mike would be able to visit her from time to time. I let Beth know I’d always dreamed of getting Whitney back one day but never expected that to become a reality.

When Beth told her wonderful great-niece about my message, Shelley was especially sensitive about our life without a dog now, and Whitney’s long ago friendship with Honey. It was decided. Whitney should retire with her puppy raisers.

I still can’t believe that in two weeks, I will be getting Whitney back – I am delirious with excitement and have already gotten her a new Serta sleeper bed, new food/water bowls, non-destructive toys (as I understand she still shreds a soft toy, haha), and have even darned Honey’s winter sweater as it will now belong to Whitney.

I am retired now myself and plan to get Whitney certified as a therapy dog through the American Kennel Club so that I can take her to Nursing Homes and to our local library for the kids “Read to a Dog” program. I don’t want to overwork Whitney, but this will be perfect for her: she’s used to being a working dog. If she is the Whitney that I remember, she will love interacting with people while still being able to be of service.

We will take nature walks, too, and go swimming and have play dates with my daughter’s dog –Kate got married this past year. I am so thankful to Beth and to her niece for making this crazy dream of mine a reality. I am blessed!