Play (Braille) Ball

Molly first visited about a year ago. A sweet and gentle poodle, she had a couple of problems; a tad of incontinence and failing eyesight. She loved to retrieve tennis balls though she had a hard time figuring out where we threw them.

A year later Molly’s incontinence got better, but her eyesight is virtually gone. She still loves retrieving balls so I’ll aim for her foot and slowly roll one towards her. Once she feels it she pushes it back towards me with her nose.   When I roll one and miss, Molly wildly sniffs the ground around her to find it. If it’s more than 3 feet away, chances are she won’t. Wanting to help, I’ll quickly retrieve the ball myself and bring it back so she will not get frustrated.

Good Golly, Miss Molly

Yesterday a couple of my other hotel guests wanted to play fetch so I pitched the ball across the enclosed softball field we visit and watched as they raced to get it. I looked over at Molly to see if she was upset that I had directed the ball somewhere else. But Molly was already barreling across the field, clearly convinced she might get the ball before the other two. No matter that she was headed in the wrong direction.

It seemed that Molly was not the one who was frustrated. She was having fun. The game was about the game, not the outcome of the game. Yet another Zen lesson from our four-footed gurus.