Ruth laughed when she saw her and had the biggest smile on her face I’ve ever seen in the three months I’ve been going to see her.
I’ve always heard that pets can reach people with Alzheimer’s on a level we cannot. But I was not at all prepared for the profound reaction my little puppy was going to bring about last Thursday.
That’s what Ruth (one of “My Ladies” with dementia I visit each week), said when I arrived with my itsy bitsy Shih Tzu puppy, Christina.
Christina, ten weeks old and weighing in at just two and a half pounds, hasn’t yet had her first haircut and is a little ball of fuzz. Her eyes peek out from beneath a broad tuft of fur; her tail never stops wagging.
The minute Christina saw Ruth she jumped up on her legs, eagerly begging to be petted.
Ruth leaned down and petted Christina energetically.
“What’s her name?” she asked, laughing again.
Christina jumped up and romped over to Ruth, who immediately scooped her up and put her on her lap. Ruth’s eyes twinkled; she was absolutely radiant.
She playfully ruffled Christina’s fur and patted her solidly on her back. As though passing out a reward, Christina planted several slurpy puppy kisses on Ruth’s face. The last one landed squarely on her mouth.
She pointed to the wallet-size photo of Christina sitting on her bureau right next to the picture of Annie, Ruth’s Labrador who now lives with her son.
The strange thing is that Ruth had forgotten I’d brought Christina on my previous visit.
The other odd thing is that I had no memory of having given her the photo. I guess between the two of us we manage to remember most things!
Then we played a game with Christina. Ruth sat in her well-worn easy chair at one end of her room and I stood at the other end just in front of the door.
Ruth clapped her hands and called Christina, who went racing toward her, then dive-bombed her feet like Pete Rose sliding into home plate head first.
Then I called Christina and she shot back to me like a mighty Hereford in a stampede.
We both laughed so hard we had tears running down our cheeks.
We called Christina back and forth like that for a good five minutes.
I was pretty sure she wanted to be petted again but was too tuckered out to jump up and beseech us.
“Thank you so much for bringing her,” Ruth said for the second time.
Christina was out of breath and her little pink tongue was hanging out, so I asked Ruth if she could get her a bowl of water.
After drinking copiously Christina was ready to frolic again, so we resumed the game.
Given Ruth’s memory, I thought I could probably bring Christina frequently, and every time would be like the first time. What a wonderful gift that would be. So much pleasure for Ruth and so easy for me to do.
Finally, and reluctantly, I told Ruth I had to leave.
“Oh,” she said, thrusting out her lower lip and looking downward.
I was as disappointed as Ruth that I had to go. I could have easily stayed there another hour, sending Christina back and forth incessantly, but I have three “Ladies” on my list to visit and I had to go on to the other two.
Ruth walked me to the door as I was thinking that after such a vigorous workout, Christina was going to sleep well that night. I kind of thought Ruth would sleep well, too.
Then we hugged, as always.
“Thank you so much for bringing her,” Ruth said for the third time.