Brave old Scott is as pretty as a picture
HI! My name is Scott and I am a 13-year-old poodle — so in dog years I’m in my mid-70s. My mom always tells me the story of how they drove all the way to Claremorris, Co Mayo, for me when I was six weeks old. Since then I have been her shadow, always by her side and we are best friends.
I was a very naughty puppy and I used get up to all sorts of mischief.
Once when my mom came home I had a big surprise waiting for her. I went to her closet and took out six pairs of her favourite shoes. I chewed one of each and then lined them all up in the hall as a lovely surprise for her when she got home. I couldn’t really understand why she didn’t think it was funny… I mean I know how much she loves shoes!
I was a show dog for a few years and I have trophies and rosettes for being such a handsome and charismatic fella.
When I was about one year old my mom asked a local artist to paint a watercolour of our house and when the lady was painting, I sat on a chair and watched her with fascination through the window.
I have two pup children, Princess (aka Princie), who lives with me, and Ollie, who lives with our friends. Princie has a different personality to me and is only about half my size. She is a typical poodle though, sassy, full of attitude and a bit of a diva.
About six years ago my mom noticed something wrong with me as I kept bumping into things. She took me to the vet who confirmed that I was going blind.
A few years after that I got glaucoma — and I ended up having to have surgery to remove my eyes.
That was nearly two years ago and I am now fully recovered.
I know I am an incredibly brave dog.
I’m still as handsome as ever and when I get groomed my black curls cover my face so no one ever knows my eyes are gone. I’m doing really well now and I can see with my ears, my nose and my heart.
Sometimes though, our cats Ian and Blue annoy me as they are always rubbing off me. (There’s one of them behind me in the photo.)
One day I’m going to be famous — that painting that the artist worked on all those years ago is now framed on the wall of our sitting room and guess what? I am the black dog with the red collar in the picture looking out the window! Breda Harkins, O’Connell Avenue, Limerick