"Are you going to get another dog?"

I ask my friend. 

It is not the sort of question I would normally ask a very elderly friend but it is the right sort of question to ask on this occasion. She  loves dogs and has not actually had one of her own since she could no longer walk one on the twice daily basis she deemed essential.

No, T... has a dog in other ways now. She "adopts" an assistance dog in training. She has done this since her neighbour's child was given one. That dog was trained to alert an adult to the little boy's epileptic seizures.  A dog like that can make a vast difference to the life of not just the person who needs the dog but all the family.

The family has moved on but T... has gone on adopting a dog in training. Each time one dog goes she has adopted another by paying for all that needs to be done. Training a dog is not a cheap exercise.

"But it is so worth it," T... tells me. 

I can only agree. There was an assistance dog in the shopping centre yesterday. It is paired with a woman who has poorly controlled diabetes and anxiety related to that diabetes because it can lead to unexpected incidents. The dog was just sitting quietly at her side as she spoke to someone she knows. As I went past she acknowledged me. On my way back from the greengrocer I saw her sitting at a table outside one of the coffee shops. I stopped and asked if she was okay,

"Yes. Thanks for asking. I'm getting something. This one knew." She looked down at the dog who appeared to be asleep by her feet. She was actually alert. One ear twitched slightly.

I had no qualms about leaving them. The owner of the coffee shop knows them both. 

This woman can go out and about, do the shopping and more because of her dog. Her husband can still go to work.  The dog does her job too.

And yes T... is going to get another dog. She will take an interest in it and how it goes during training. It is the dog she cannot have herself now she can no longer care for one.