快活影院

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Shepherds - more often than not - don’t slide seamlessly into a kennel environment, they crash like reluctant meteorites; the alien world into which they’ve fallen is subject to rules that they are unaccustomed to, noises they’ve never heard, smells that’ve never before swirled their way through those great nostrils of theirs. Without the grounding that familiarity provides, Shepherds are cast adrift - bobbing, lonely, in the vast ocean of confusion. They often struggle to adapt, fearful of the floor which seems to have shifted beneath their furred feet. So it was with Ash, at first. 

Like a bygone prophet, Ash has commandments of her own. Or rather, just the one commandment, to which she is devout in her subservience. Follow the harness wherever it may lead. Repeated in a mantra, she waits for the sweet moment when a circumstance looks even remotely equipped for an excursion, counting the steps, the rules, the moments towards freedom. A poo bag peeks from a pocket and one sleeping eye cracks open; a radio crackles and two ears ping skyward to the heavens; a soft scent of meaty treats wafts in and three whiskers shiver as a nose twitches with delight; a lead is unhooked and four paws spring to action, bouncing from side to side with anticipation, tail swooping in awkward circles, no time for aesthetic airs and graces. Four paws, three whiskers, two ears, one nose. The game is afoot, the action has begun, the crescendo of her day has arrived and the jubilation can begin. 

These are Ash’s rules, which at the moment resemble a small world, smaller than we can provide, smaller than she deserves. Her affection is limitless, her intelligence unmatched, her playful energy spilling from the seams, equalled only by her desire to be held and cradled like the puppy she is at heart. 

Do not be fooled by her years, Ash’s adventure has just begun.

Richard Grainger | Aniamal Care Assistant