Well, more precisely, an arrival anniversary. Skill came to us 10 years ago today. Since he is a shelter dog and we do not know his exact birthday, we celebrate the anniversary of his arrival.
He brought a lot of changes, but some things have stayed constant ever since.
He settled in at lightning speed. When we set off for home from the shelter, he hopped into the crate next to Elfie, so they first traveled in the car just as they always did afterward.
Once in the garden, Elfie gave him a tour. They walked along under the thuja trees and the fence, and not even half an hour later Skill was already out barking at the arriving pizza courier. After all, he lived here now.
He was not called Skill back then. We do not know what he was called before. There was a name in his vaccination booklet, but probably nobody at the shelter had bothered to say it to him. So he learned that it is polite to sit when food is served from Elfie, though maybe only the next day.
He arrived on Saturday, and by Sunday he was coming with me to the dog school to teach a class. We figured he knew about that exactly as little as he knew about staying home alone.
He had long-running projects. Skill is a cuddly dog who wanted to practice that on Elfie too. It took at least a year. Until then, every blessed day he showered Elfie with affection and endured her grumpy looks and her pulling away. Piece by piece he wore down her resistance, and got Elfie to first tolerate face licking with an expression of “yuck, fine, just this once”. After that things escalated to the point that they slept cuddled up together. Sometimes.
He was an only dog for 8 months too. After Elfie left us, it was just him. He held his ground heroically: he ate all the food, collected all the cuddles and chased every ball. But it was clear this was not his world.
Then he raised Sage. From the moment we brought him home, Skill watched his small and sometimes annoying buddy with a proud look. He had a playmate again. Skill cannot run around because of his bad joints, but with breathtaking enthusiasm he stands still in the garden and gets the puppy to run circles around him (who is no longer a puppy, but the setup has not changed at all). An undeniable advantage of raising the puppy for Skill is that the little one could be shaped from a snapper into a snuggler. They sleep beautifully together in one bed. For a while, anyway, because everyone needs personal space, of course.
What the years have not touched is his ball mania and his drive to work.
His reputation as a retriever preceded him. We even went to the shelter intending to make sure he would not guard his prize from the other ball-crazy dog, Elfie. Yes, I was the one who tested the ball on the zeroth shared walk. And since there was no problem, we dared to start our shared life.
The photo of him tugging the ball was taken today. It is still the best party: hanging off the equipment.
Perhaps the biggest challenge with Skill is that his “let us do something” attitude has not changed, even though, in short, he does not have a single healthy joint. Today’s photo was also taken in the hall where Sage and I train. Surely nobody imagines that Skill does not come along. Just to avoid misunderstandings, when we have training gear with us, he positions himself significantly in the gateway, so nobody goes anywhere from here without him.
His range is about 150 meters now, that is how far he can walk. In his head, of course, he is not tired by it. Standing for longer is already hard, and sitting only on good ground, if absolutely necessary. So a good part of the tricks drops out. But by now I can make a self-control task out of almost anything, as long as his ball can be placed next to it.
This is him, the unity of change and constancy. Skill, we are so glad to have you!