Melissa Shapiro - Piglet: The Unexpected Story of a Deaf, Blind, Pink Puppy and His Family

Piglet

The Unexpected Story of a Deaf, Blind, Pink Puppy and His Family

Melissa Shapiro, DVM

With Mim Eichler Rivas

An Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

Copyright 2021 by Piglet the Dog, LLC

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Atria Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Atria Paperback edition June 2022

and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or .

The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

Interior design by Suet Chong

Illustrations by Ellie Snowdon

Jacket design by Claire Sullivan

Jacket photographs by Joan Carruthers Photography

Author photograph by Joan Carruthers Photography

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021937324

ISBN 978-1-9821-6716-5

ISBN 978-1-9821-6718-9 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-9821-6719-6 (ebook)

To my parentsfor your encouragement and commitment to helping me achieve my childhood dream of becoming a veterinarian.

And to Pretzel, April, Baby Bird, Susie, and all my other dogs, birds, rodents, and one tiny ferretfor enriching my life with your own unique love and devotion.

We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own, live within a fragile circle; easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we would still live no other way. We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan.

Irving Townsend, author and record producer

This is a work of narrative nonfiction in which I recall interactions with others and re-create dialogue from remembered conversations. Although these exchanges are not presented as word-for-word exchanges, I have endeavored to write about events in the true spirit in which they took place and with which the words were spoken.

Additionally, its important to note that though Ive included information in this book that comes from my expertise and experience as a veterinarian and animal welfare advocate, as well as my own approach to dog training and advocacy for animals with disabilities, this book is by no means a comprehensive guide to treating and caring for our pets. For questions and guidance as how best to care for your beloved animals, please consult with veterinarians and animal welfare professionals in your area.

THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 2018
ANNA WARE JACKSON SCHOOL PLAINVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS

Were almost there! I announced with a small sigh of relief as I caught sight of the street sign that promised we were nearly at our destination.

Almost there, I repeated a little louder, turning around from the passenger seat to reassure our canine population in the backtwo of them buckled in on the seat, and the littlest two, each asleep in their own carriers on the floor, that as soon as we get there, everyone gets to go pee!

Our two back-seat passengers both pricked up their ears, each turning their heads in my direction with their version of dog smiles.

From as far back as I can remember, probably as young as five or six years old, I have always talkedand listenedto animals. That was around the same age that I realized with lasting certainty that when I grew up I was going to become a veterinarian. For some its a profession, for me a callingthe only one thing I ever wanted to do.

My husband glanced over to give me a skeptical look, as if to ask, Didnt you say we were almost there about fifteen minutes ago?

After a beat, Warrenwhom our three kids and I all think kind of looks like Will Ferrell if he wore glasses, only more athleticshook his head and laughed, being the good sport that he almost always is. This was not how hed hoped to spend a Thursday during one of the more demanding times of the year for his high-pressure job working at a major bio-pharmaceutical company.

With a hopeful nod, I promised, Youll see, this will be fun. Its gonna be worth it.

The two-and-a-half-hour trip from our house in Westport, Connecticut, to Plainville, Massachusetts, to pay a surprise visit to a classroom of third graders had looked like an easy drive on our GPS, but we had hit a few traffic snarls and the trek was now taking forever. The day itself had begun gloomily with overcast skies, but the dogs dont change their routines just because theres bad weather. We still started the day as we always did, making sure that all seven members of our dog pack were up and out to do their morning businessin two groupsand were fed and accounted for before we loaded up the van.

Our morning routine is elaborate, though pretty well set, and everyone knows the drill. Unless the weather is irresistible, we dont do too much playing in the morningsespecially not on a day when some of us have to get on the road by nine. On this particular day, once inside, everyone lined up to be fed, each in her or his self-proclaimed spot. After eating, the dogs waited at attention while I prepped food for my birdseach canine watching intently as I cut up the birdie veggies and pieces of cooked eggs. The little scrambled egg pockets that I use for dispensing pills to the different dogs who need them were, as usual, the featured delicacy of the morning. Moving faster than normal, after I fed Lukita, our blue parakeet, I ran up the stairs, cleaned the cages of the three rescued house sparrowsSunny, Betty, and Blind Boy Willieand filled their dishes with fresh food and water. Before it was time to leave, I let everyone out again, all the while talking to them and letting them know the agenda for the day.

Im always amazed at how the dogs pay full attention to me when Im talking, carefully listening for words they recognize. On such hectic mornings as this one, I do sometimes wonder whatever happened to our two-dog MAX (as in maximum) rule. Somehow we make it work.

The hardest part this day had been reassuring the animals who werent coming with us that wed be back before too long. Each of our dogs has a job, and one job they all share is to support one another, as I reminded Dean, Annie, and Gina. Dean is our handsome Lab mix who loves car rides but also enjoys being a couch potato. Annie is our exceptionally sweet, shy, tan terrier mix. And Gina is our beautiful white Australian shepherd/border collie mix, who is deaf in one ear and has vision deficits, along with separation anxiety when Im not nearby.

Each of the three watched me go with stoic resolve while Lukita, chirping away, put in his foreign-flavored two cents as I ran out the door into the morning mist.

Once on the road, the clouds finally began to lift, and the sun broke through by the time we exited the highway. We picked up speed briefly, but as soon as we made it to the local streets of Plainville, we hit a maze of stop signs, right turns, left turns, and wrong turns. Just when I started to get nervous that we might never arrive, we came around a corner and spotted the elementary school.