Michael Forester is the winner of the WforW Georgina Hawtrey-Woore Award for Independent Authors: Non-Fiction Category with If it Wasn’t for That Dog! A funny, and heart warming account of moving from the world of sound to silence in the company of Matt.
When I wake in the morning, my first act is to reach out, to check he is still breathing. He has been with me close on fourteen years now; fourteen years of inestimable joy, not only for me, but also for just about everyone whose life he touches.
His first job used to be to wake me in the morning when the alarm rang. Being close to profoundly deaf, I can’t hear it myself. Then he would delight to spend his day telling me about the other sounds I cannot hear in my home and workplace. When the doorbell rang, he would touch my knee and lead me to the door. If the smoke alarm went off, he would tell me in the same way, then lie down. You don’t want to be led into a fire, do you?
As the years rolled on, the light touch morphed into throwing himself at me – a quicker act than touching, then dashing to the door in frenzied excitement to see who was there. And there was always the reward, of course. Nothing does it for him like Bonios; or carrots. Later in life we discovered that carrots, too, transport him to a world of bliss – but only after dinner was finished. He knows the rules. But that doesn’t stop him negotiating for extra treats. He knows that once in a while I’ll melt at the sight of those eyes – the eyes do it to me every time. His love is in his eyes, and after all, I’m only human.
Matt has been my hearing dog for over thirteen years. Now, at well over fourteen years of age, his own hearing has gone and his eyesight is failing fast. I keep close to him when we walk at the New Milton Recreation Ground in the mornings, in case he panics at loosing sight of me and runs off home.
In the evenings we sit, watching the stars appear, his head on my lap, my hand stroking gently down the length of his body. Then it’s bed, where he snuffles and licks my face before settling for the night. He knows I’m only human. He knows I need to be told I am loved. Please be there tomorrow. Don’t go. Not just yet…
This article first appeared in New Milton Mail on 11.7.17 and Frost Magazine uses it with grateful thanks.
Michael Forester’s book If It Wasn’t For That Dog! is about his first year with his hearing dog, Matt, and is available, signed personally, from michaelforester.co.uk/books .
Michael’s web site, michaelforester.co.uk is regularly updated with details of his activities and includes a widely read blog at michaelforester.co.uk/blog
If it Wasn’t for That Dog! by Michael Forester: pub Paralight Press. Available from Amazon.co.uk in e-book and paperback.