Wednesday

Another standard day with no brain for us today. It does worry me that people who have cared for relatives with dementia are reputed to be at greater risk of developing dementia themselves.

The Dog’s sore paw is settling down and she seems less bothered by it. She licks and nibbles at the broken claw but not so much that she’ll make it worse. I’m content to let her manage it herself rather than put her through the trauma of clipping it. I haven’t ruled out a pedicure completely though. Back in the day when The Dog was still completely wild and a walk was a two-hour fight as she pulled like a train she would wear down her claws and keep them short. Now she’s so much calmer and rarely pulls at all her claws have got a bit long. I wonder whether that was the cause of her splitting one.

Anyway, we’d decided to keep to a paved route to wear down The Dog’s claws a bit and reduce the risk of her stubbing a toe as she plunges through the shrubbery on off-road routes.

Preparation for a walk follows a routine. The Dog has rules. She has Pink Jobs and Blue Jobs. If, for example, she wants something to eat she asks Lesley as that’s a Pink Job. If she needs to go out to toilet or would like a game then she asks me. They’re Blue Jobs. Getting kitted out with her collar and harness before going out for a walk is a Pink Job and she won’t let me do it.

When we were ready to leave I went through my own routine. I have a checklist: Keys, Phone, Treat Pouch, Poo bags.

“Ready? Let’s go!”

The Dog was as good as gold on her walk. Mostly. She only pulled on her lead four times. Three of those times were caused by cats that she came really close to catching. The fourth was when she spotted a neighbour that she likes and wanted to say hello. This neighbour has known The Dog since we first got her and knows how much of a handful she was. We haven’t seen this neighbour for a while and she seemed flattered by how keen The Dog was to greet her. She was also impressed by how much calmer she was.

Taking The Dog’s collar and harness off on our return home is generally, but not exclusively, a Blue Job. Having let The Dog in and taken my boots off I bent down to disrobe her. No collar.

“You didn’t take her collar off when we got in did you?”

“No?”

“She must have lost it when she dived into that hedge after a cat.”

We decided to retrace our steps when we went for the Afternoon Walk to see if we could find it.

We scrambled through each and every bush and hedge that The Dog had plunged into on the way round. No sign of the collar. We asked the dog-walkers we met to keep and eye out for an orange collar. Nobody had seen it.

Three quarters of the way round I asked for permission to ask a daft question.

“You did put a collar on her when we went out this morning didn’t you?”

“Of course! It’s part of my routine!”

“OK. I just thought it was worth asking.”

We returned home empty-handed. While we were disappointed, The Dog was happy to be back home. No matter how keen she is to go out she’s always happy to be back home. It’s like she’s grateful that we’ve been kind enough to let her come back with us. It’s very sweet.

And as I was taking The Dog’s harness and spare collar off I saw the collar we thought we’d lost sitting on top of the bag of dog paraphernalia that’s just inside the front door.

Lesley hadn’t put it on The Dog before our morning walk.

I hadn’t noticed she wasn’t wearing a collar the entire time we had been out.

We’d been working on the forms for our parents’ tax returns and probate applications between the walks. Given how addled our brains seem to be it might be worth going back over those forms before we send them off.

Bloody hell.

Author’s Note

My Mum was in a nursing home in the Thames Valley for a year and a half until she passed away in December 2024. My Father-in-law went into the same home the following January. But Lesley’s sister didn’t approve and made the situation so awkward that he had to be moved. He passed away in March 2025. Names and locations have been changed or hidden to protect the identities of those involved.

Image Credit

Original Image by Nick Gilmore. April 2025.