Stephen Hayes - Parisian Tails

Parisian Tails

by Stephen Hayes

Parisian Tails

Artwork and original images provided by Kim Hayes

Published 2016 by Stephen Hayes, Australia.

Formatted and Distributed by www.ebookit.com

www.stephenhayesonline.com

Copyright 2016 Stephen Hayes.

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon, Apple or similar organisations) in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-9944590-2-2

Dedication

This book is especially dedicated to my beautiful companion Paris, but it is also dedicated to everyone who knew her in life and have their own fond memories of her to cherish.

Dogs in this family generally dont last very long. There have been a few over Stephens early childhood but they somehow managed to be given away to better families or they just shot through on us. So it was unexpected that Stephen went ahead and applied for a seeing-eye dog and kept his own counsel without ever revealing that one was in the wings.

Pleased as I was that he would have more mobility in the future, especially with university being a challenge in its own right where a guide-dog would be a godsend. But as with all things comes responsibility and Stephen at first assured us all that a dog would not be an issue for us as he would be the master and carer and we were to keep our distance lest we corrupt it.

We were told a golden Labrador named Paris (from a P-litter) had been selected and Stephen would have to do intense training and do live-ins with Paris. That was fine, not a problem from our end.

At my first meeting with Pariswell, that didnt go over too well. As soon as she crossed the threshold, she saw me and barked ferociously at me while being restrained by her SEDA handler. Thatd be right, I said, every female in the family always barks at me sooner or later in this household and this female aint any different.

So Paris came to stay, and such was her nature we all fell head-over-heels for her. It wasnt enough that she was the hairy-nose of the family but she could be very bossy in gaining attention from anyone; especially round the dinner table where she would stare down the sighted patrons and resting her drooling head on their laps while ignoring the blindies in desperate hope of gaining a morsel of food from their platesand she often did on many occasions.

Paris had style; she had intelligence; she had a blessed way of ignoring you if it interrupted whatever she was doing. Paris was just Paris. Total love to all around her. She was unconditional and doted on the family just as much as we doted on her. She gave safety and companionship to Stephen, made best friends with his siblings Alysha and Molly and left me to pick up the crap. Sounds like a fair exchange of responsibilities.

We knew that age was catching up with her and also knew that she would someday become too ill to go on. What we didnt expect was it to be so soon. Her lethargy at the park was a tell-tale sign that something was not quite right with her and her menopausal behaviour was becoming erratic. And by April 2016, Stephen became a man and made a mans decision to put Paris to bed for the last time. Such is the loss of Paris that she effected everyone that loved her because Paris is love.

Dad, 2016

Most people have had a pet at some stage in their lives, and in many cases, that pet would have been a dog. In some of those cases, that pet would have felt less like a pet and more like a member of the family, and even a companion. This is the story of Paris, my seeing-eye dog and best friend for nine years, who was taken from us before her time in 2016. She was truly an exceptional girl who laid her paw on the hearts of everyone she met.

We have ways of recording sound and sight into a form that others can observe through audio and video. I wish it were possible to record other things, such as touch, smell, and even thoughts themselves during certain experiences. The brain will do its best to recall the most memorable (not necessarily the best memories), but the recall won't be perfect. Over time, these memories will fade as they are replaced with new experiences.

This book is my attempt to hold onto and share as much of Paris's memory as I can. We have lots of photographs, only some of which are included in this book; as well as plenty of video footage, capturing many of her cutest moments, though missing out on plenty as well. It isn't enough for me; I would like to convey, even if it requires readers to use their imagination, just how Paris felt to the touch, and precisely how it felt to know her for nine good years.

2007: Paris at work ever alert, or is she just looking for some mischief?

As a teenager, I never thought I would get a seeing-eye dog. I always believed that I could get around quite fine with a white-cane, and that having a dog would be too much upkeep. It wasn't until the age of eighteen, while I was doing orientation and mobility (O&M) training at a TAFE institution where I would be studying the following year (so that I could get around the place independently), that I was enlightened regarding the benefits of having a seeing-eye dog.

Of those, the two main ones were the increased mobility, and the companionship. With a seeing-eye dog, it wouldn't be necessary to run my cane along walls or surfaces with edges to find my way, not if the dog knew where we were going. It wouldn't be a big issue at TAFE, but it may become one the following year, in 2007 when I would start university. As for the companionship, I took it on face-value that there may be some, but I under-estimated just how attached I would become to my first seeing-eye dog.

There was also the extra perk that guys with dogs get a little extra attention from girls, and I won't tell a lie in this story. Over the following months, as I considered whether or not to get a dog, that thought was a factor in my decision-making. I can't recall that ever happening, though, if anyone might have given me more attention because of my seeing-eye dog they inevitably were more interested in the dog than the person beside it.

I sat on it for perhaps seven or eight months before deciding that I would take the plunge and apply for a seeing-eye dog, even going as far as making notes for things to ask when I made the phone call, in case I got tongue-tied. It turned out to be very easy, though; I just had to answer some questions, sign a couple of documents, and I was immediately put on the waiting list.

A few months later, in July 2006 it would have been, I received a visit from one of the dog trainers at Seeing-Eye Dogs Australia (SEDA). For the sake of this book, let's call him Trajan; he was the same person who introduced me to the idea of getting a dog in the first place. (Trajan was the O&M instructor when I was learning my way around the TAFE the previous year.) We went over the ground rules, what I could expect, what I shouldn't expect, and what I would need to be able to do.

We then went for one of the strangest walks I have ever experienced in my life. Trajan walked in front of me and slightly to the side, and he was holding one end of a bar while I held the other end. In this manner, he guided me around the neighbourhood, all the while measuring my typical walking pace and analysing my gate and walking style. He then put me back on the waiting list where I would remain for another seven months.