Returning home late last evening, I had only a short time of daylight for my long-awaited frolic with Sammy on the front lawn. To my utter surprise, he trotted over to me and, when obeying his favorite commands to sit, give me his paw, and lie down in the grass, he tussled with me.
It was unmistakable. In the well-known Ridgeback way, he pushed at me with his paw a few times, then took my forearm in his teeth and ‘mouthed’ me in the way his kind do. It was utter, anticipated playfulness and a new uptick in the trendline of awakening that the boy is experiencing.
I could almost hear the Samsters humming along with Cat Stevens to the tune of that good, old melody ‘Peace Train’:
Now I’ve been happy lately,
thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be,
something good has begunOh I’ve been smiling lately,
dreaming about the world as one
And I believe it could be,
some day it’s going to comeCause out on the edge of darkness,
there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country,
come take me home againCause out on the edge of darkness,
there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country,
come take me home again
The world is not quite as nasty as he had believed. Sammy is no longer enveloped in darkness, just trotting probingly along its edge.
The boy is going to make it.
Canter Bridge 
We adopted a female German Shepherd a little of 3 years ago. We found out later a military couple had her for her first 7 months, then dumped her at the pound. She’d had no medical treatment, she was under-developed, she had no manners to speak of, & she had never been socialized. She’d been beaten, with her tail & ears pulled on. We think she had been locked in a full size bathroom, because she still won’t enter one. She will a powder room, but not if there’s a tub.
Now she’s almost 4. She’s happy, she plays, she guards from the squirrels in the trees, & she has her own chair. (She thinks it’s hers, anyway.) She’s still afraid of strangers, but she can meet new people a little easier. She has several people friends now. She plays with my 13 year old cat. She won’t ever be totally calm, but we know it, we know why, & we protect her.
When the time comes for our 12 year old G. S. to move on, having Loki will make it a little bit easier.
People who have to buy a pure breed, instead of rescuing one, are missing out on the best dogs. I hope your Sammy becomes as much a part of your family as our Loki has.
Dear Karen,
Thanks for Lokie’s story and for the good wishes for Sammy and our family.
We learned at Sammy’s vet appointment yesterday that the blindness is not due to being beaten. Instead it has a genetic origin and Sammy’s previous owners either couldn’t or chose not to deal with it. We were also told that, with surgery, he may recover some sight in one of his eyes. The vision is irrecoverable in the other.
So we’re going to research the surgery, figure out whether’s it’s affordable, and whether the potential upside is worth the trauma to Sammy.
Meanwhile, he gets visibly bouncier and happier every day.
Just as you have described living with Loki’s limitations, we’ll happily embrace whatever Sammy’s turn out to be.
Thanks again.
David