It’s now been three months since we adopted Sora. I just realised that today – it’s amazing how quickly time has gone. Tonight, I completed the migration of all previous entries marked “the Life of Sora” so now all past and future posts about him will appear under the url  http://lawrenceripsher.com/blog/thelifeofsora.

Shortly after Sora came to our house, a friend (thank you Kendra :) told me “wait 3 months, then you’ll find out who he really is”. We weren’t sure whether it was reassurance or a warning, but it has certainly turned out to be true. Since September, Sora’s journey has been incredible. Seeing him settle in and grow in confidence has been amazing. What have we learned about his personality in the past three months?

He loves the car. Whether it be coming on long journeys and sitting up back, trying to climb into my seat while I drive down the freeway or just sleeping in the front seat when we leave him in the car, he is definitely a big fan of the automobile (btw I have a special leash installed now to reduce impromptu attempts at climbing into my lap).

(curled up in the front seat of my Infiniti EX35)

He hates to be left alone. He definitely doesn’t like being by himself. Here’s what happened the last time he was in the house unmonitored:

(notice the wagging tail)

Sometimes he even wakes up and barks, wondering where everyone is. Being comfortable to be by himself (outside of the car) is something we’ll need to get him used to.

He loves to climb. Sora clearly used to be a circus dog in his previous life. I need to get a picture of him scaling the 9 foot wall in our back garden. I have no idea what he thinks he’ll do when he gets to the top but he is fearless when it comes to climbing, whether it’s thinking he’ll fit in your lap at the breakfast table or running up the stairs to our house.

(in Seattle’s arboretum)

He loves to play. Him and Rio have a blast. Seeing a blind dog playflight is quite an amazing thing. When he pulls on the leash too which is kind of funny. Not sure exactly where he thinks he’ll go by himself but he clearly doesn’t feel the need to hold back when we go to walk.

(Begging for food at the breakfast table)

(out on a walk)

He learns quick. Recently Sora realised that if he sits outside the back door after being in the garden, he’ll get a treat from us to entice him back inside. Unfortunately he’s learned this so well that he now refuses to come back into the house until he’s been duly rewarded. Given how damn cold its been lately, we need to un-teach him this!

(Sora waiting to get paid)

He’s still recovering from  his wounds. About 6 weeks ago, Sora had a canine pulled. Fortunately this has cleared up well but there’s a lot of shot left in his face. We noticed another cracked tooth (an incisor) the other day which the vet missed and he’ll be going back in on Monday to have that extracted. Hopefully this should be very quick and be the last of his teeth problems. Long term we just hope that there is no additional damage that the leftover shot will cause. I suspect we need to get his nasal cavity checked too which has a tendency to get a little blocked up.

(I love the deep contrast of this shot)

It’s no exaggeration to say that Sora’s approach to life is a complete inspiration. The way he goes about his day, integrates into our daily lives, gets up to all sorts of trouble and pretty much believes he can do anything is staggering. We constantly have to remind ourselves he’s blind – I am sure that if his face did not look the way it does, people would not realise. When we adopted him, his rescuer (who also had a blind dog) told us that when her dog lost his sight, he just assumed everyone lost their sight at the same time. We are sure Sora sees the  world in the same way. If only we could be so brave.