I cannot BELIEVE I missed your last update. Sally, I am SO sorry. I feel absolutely terrible after all the support you have given me, and give to everyone on the site, that I wasn't there for you when you needed support. Thankfully, I see so many others were, and the community has gathered round in its wonderful way, but I still feel terrible that I didn't see this. Trust me, I am "pulling a Clare" at myself...

Merry Myrtle and Frankie are two of the luckiest dogs on planet earth. They know that. We all know that. Happy Hannah knows that too. That's why she sent them to you, because she knew that with their particular needs they were going to need an extra special human to love them and take care of them and fuss over them and spoil them rotten and buy them puppy lattes, and all the rest. And she knew who that human was.

Please, Sally, be kind to yourself. This is a lot to handle emotionally. Myrtle and Frankie will be absolutely fine. They could not be in better hands, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. It is you I am concerned about. Please try and show yourself the same love and compassion you give so abundantly to everyone in this community.

Sending huge love, as ever,

Clare 

PS I see Myrtle has NO problem finding the treats you hold out to her. Now why doesn't that surprise me! In terms of the vision, I think that as apes, with a HUGELY dominant visual sense, it is hard for us to fully imagine just how VASTLY more important to a dog the sense of smell is. It is literally thousands of times more sensitive than ours, and in the case of some breeds (e.g. Frankie...) millions of times. This is from Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz, one of my favourite dog writers:

"Imagine if each detail of our visual world were matched by a corresponding smell. Each petal on a rose may be distinct, having been visited by insects leaving pollen footprints from faraway flowers. What is to us just a single stem actually holds a record of who held it and when. A burst of chemicals marks where a leaf was torn. The flesh of the petals, plump with moisture compared to that of the leaf, holds a different odour besides. The fold of a leaf has a smell; so does a dewdrop on a thorn. And time is in those details: while we can see one of the petals drying and browning, the dog can smell this process of decay and ageing. Imagine smelling every minute visual detail. That might be the experience of a rose to a dog."

Oh Sally, sweetheart 

I am so, so, so sorry to hear ...

This has to be extremely hard on you, sweetie ... 

But, as Clare's book quotation shows you and us beautifully, a dog's sense of smell is the most precious of all of their senses and Myrtle has no problem there, no sir!

She is already negotiating her way around and definitely knows where her cookies are, bless her heart 

Frankie will be a huge help too, you can be totally sure of that!

For a reason neither you nor I can know, you were sent another extremely difficult test so you can grow spiritually. 

I had never realised these things happen for a reason. 

Not until Kinky left me so suddenly and without previous warning.

Not until Eurydice left me even if this time I was given time to adjust.

These challenges, as hard and unfair as they were, made me grow, taught me to accept facts and try my absolute best and by doing so I learnt to live each day appreciating any moments of happiness like never before.

It also taught me how to separate important stuff from trivia and boy, oh boy do we humans spend half our lives concentrating in the wrong things ...

I know you understand.

You and Myrtle will overcome this.

She will adapt much quicker than we think, her life will be as happy as before because she has the most loving Mom ever existed and the craziest baby brother ever too. 

Me, and all tripawdians, we are holding you and Myrtle in our hearts.

You are far more precious to us than we will ever be able to express in words.

There's a huge avalanche of kisses going your way right now, sweetie, and a tornado of cuddles and hugs and tummy rubs and ear scratches to Myrtle and Frankie too plus lots and lots of slobbery kisses from Happy Hannah and Eurydice from the sky