Well I’ve missed a few posts in the last week primarily because we adopted a new tennis dog. She’s really terrible at fetching tennis balls and you will know why in a moment. Some a**hole took her to the shelter and asked that she be put down because she was blind. Thank God the vet there had a conscience and refused to do it. This dog looked like a Bichon Frise to the shelter people so the local bichon rescue got a call. ( We support them with one of my sites http://www.IAmNOTaPoodle.com ) They put it out on their emergency bulletin board and we immediately went to see the Dog. Pixie (her new name) is a super loving 14 year old poodle/bichon mix in wonderful health for her age. She just can’t see anymore.

Tom is determined to teach Pixie how to fetch a tennis ball.

She craves human affection so the first day I made this makeshift sling out of a sheet so she could be close to someone while she acclimates. In the first two days she is learning how to go up and down stairs and the special commands not needed on a sighted dog. I’m learning all kinds of things on how to care for a blind animal like make different smells in different rooms so she knows where she is. For fetching a tennis ball I’m either going to find one with a bell in it or I’m going to make one by cutting one open and putting a bell in it. Anyway, even though she’s only 9 pounds and doesn’t even come close to qualifying for being part of this blog, she’s going to be the FatsoTennis mascot and a beacon of hope for all of us. If she’s blind and can fetch a tennis ball and go up and down stairs and find her way around a big house, then we ought to be able to get up off our big behinds and improve at tennis.