Wednesday with Whitney: Growing Older Together

Whitney’s having a grand old time. And she deserves to.

You loyal Safe & Sound blog readers might remember that we delivered my retired Seeing Eye dog Whitney to her new retirement home in rural Pennsylvania this past December. Her new/old owner Elisse (Elisse and her family were the volunteers who raised Whitney as a puppy) keeps us up to date with Whitney’s adventures there. Here she is with the latest installment.

Whitney, Summer of 2020

by Elisse Pfeiffer

Whitney has been retired for nearly 7 months already and has adjusted both quickly and well. Some habits don’t die, though. She still follows me everywhere and wants to always make sure everyone is okay. She is a love, and I am grateful to have her back until the end of her time here — thank you, Beth (& Mike and Shelley, too!).

Whitney is exuberantly happy most of the time — she even smiles! She plays Frisbee every morning, although not always immediately and constantly as she would like. Chasing the Frisbee can leave her panting from running up and down these steep hills, and after some time, I let her just lay either on the deck or in the cool grass with her beloved Frisbee. She seems quite content there…until she decides it’s time to go again!

Whitney has a remarkable store of energy and keeps up with her exercise. Sometimes we go to a park and she plays catch with her Lacrosse ball on the tennis courts. I power-walk the perimeter of the park, and she runs along at her own pace. Often times, she rests while I continue, eventually catching up with me with her ball so we can get back to the chasing game. We both enjoy free playtime in a nearby park — it has a magnificent variety of mature trees, a playground and wide-open fields.

Now that summer is here, we’ve been exploring swimming holes. We found a new one this week, closer to the house! I stood knee-deep in the cool, refreshing water as she enjoyed 25 minutes going back and forth and back and forth.

The following day we walked another path and found a different swimming spot: one with a small waterfall with an eddy. Whitney would swim up to the whirlpool, turn around, let the current carry her downstream, then swim back up to the whirlpool, turn around, and let the current carry her downstream again. I sat on my choice of flat rocks and just enjoyed watching her. She’d always look to me to see if she could continue, or how far to go. She is very smart, and she still learns quickly. Not one other person was around that day, so nature sounds were all you heard. The smells were intoxicating, and on the walk, Whitney’s nose went into overdrive! Ah, the woods!

I feel like Whitney and I are like two ladies, growing older together. We both love to be active, but our bodies don’t quite recover like they used to. After all this playtime, rest is welcomed.

Sometimes, she will get up slowly, or will limp a little before the joints get going again. Stretching is a thing we both find necessary, and naps are okay, too, sometimes.

Admittedly, Whitney naps more than I do, but then, that is the life of a retired Seeing Eye dog. She is allowed to just rest…and be.