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Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Familiar Guests

Bow likes having guests. But the guests that come need to somehow feel familiar, like family. Sometimes the guests are people that he has seen before many times. Others, he has only ever heard on the phone. But it helps if he knows them in some way, and if he feels they are not entirely strangers.


My daughter graduated for high school this weekend. Two family friends, Paul and Adonna, came to visit. Bow had never seen them before, But their voices he had heard over the years.


Bow was particularly drawn to Paul, whose voice was very familiar.


Over the past ten years Bow and I have been trapped in the pens. Any phone conversation I had during the first twelve hours of the day, Bow was a witness to. His hearing is very good, and he can hear everything the other party is saying, even if the phone is held to my ear and not his. Therefore, people who have been in our lives over the long term, even if only by sporadic phone contact, are not considered strangers.


The high pitched, excited vocalizations Bow made when Paul first appeared, and at various points during the visit are different from his display vocalizations. He did display, also, every once in  a while, letting us all know he is strong enough. But the excited, high pitched vocalizations are what happens when Bow is trying to talk to someone without spelling on the glass. They are his speaking voice.

It's so important not to be a stranger in order to be accepted by Bow. But there are other ways to meet and learn to know one another, besides visiting our house. That's why some people Bow has never seen before are already not strangers when they finally meet in person. 

4 comments:

  1. That looked like an enjoyable visit for Bow. Interesting that his hearing is so good - I hadn't even thought about an animal recognizing a voice he'd only heard on the phone! I really like the picture of Bow and Paul looking at each other closely through the cage too - there's something sweet about it.

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    1. Hi, Kathy, that _is_ a sweet picture. Bow's hearing and comprehension are such that we always have to watch what we say on the phone in front of him, to make sure it is not something that would upset him. It's easy to forget that he is listening in. I think a lot of parents who talk in front of their small children should really be more careful, too. There's a lot that they pick up on that adults are not aware of.

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  2. Irina likes to watch Bow move around. She is very interested in videos, and for some reason, she likes to watch documentaries. I turned around one day, and she was aptly paying attention to some commentary.

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    1. Hi, Julia. That is interesting. You should film Irina watching Bow sometime!

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