In this case the owner had a heart, and brought the puppy to AWARE. It was small. It cried. It was very afraid. But hey – this is an animal shelter, and despite being surrounded by enormous evil-smelling hounds with fangs dripping in halitosis, the blind French Poodle soon discovered the joys of racing round the yard.

We called him Rocket Radar, partly because of his uncanny ability to avoid obstacles.

So with his little white goatee beard and his quizzical way of tilting his head he soon wagged his way into our hearts, and he seemed to know from the start that he was one of the House dogs.

Unfortunately there are also House cats – every one of them armed at all four corners and expert at keeping canines in line. None of them take any guff from the dogs, who for their part treat the cats with great respect, not to say terror, while trying to pretend they don’t exist.

Not so Rocket. With sightless insouciance he trots up to every passing shape, and gives it a friendly sniff. The cats sniff back, warily at first, but with increasing interest. Hmm. A snack? A claw-sharpener? A toy?

Well they’ve decided on the latter. Now Rocket somehow finds his way upstairs to the Cat domain, seeks out his friend Bean, and the fun and frolics begin. They leap, jump, and wrassle to their hearts’ content, and Rocket emerges without a scratch. Then Bean gives Rocket a wash and they go to sleep, paw in paw.

At first Xenii did not want Rocket to go with the House dogs on their dawn run in the woods. There are dangers out there. Then one day, profiting from a moment of supervisory inattention, Rocket went, his nose glued to the Human’s heel.

Now he bounds, he leaps, he whirls, he hunts blackberries, he runs ahead and leads the way, and only seldom smacks nose first into a tree, falls into the ditch, or runs foul of a quick-fanged elder.

Life is good, Life is hard, Life tests us all. And some, like Rocket ‘Raccoon’ Radar, respond and grow.

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