Underland to Wonderland: A Decade with Baker

Baker is TEN!!
We hit the decade milestone. And it flew in.
It feels like the past ten years have disappeared in a blink, but then again I cannot remember life without this little man.

I'm sure that there are others out there who share my exact bond with my dog, especially since joining the Blue Cross as a volunteer and hearing first-hand that people do feel the same, however, I am aware that many people don't understand the relationship Baker and I have, nor the way I treat him.
Baker is my child. The fact that he has fur and four legs has no part in it because, as I have mentioned many times previously, I do many things for him that a mother does for a child.
Baker is my best friend, he is an emotional support, a companion who is with me all day every day, he is a dog but he is way more than 'just a dog' and I can't express how much he means to me.
This little guy has been in my life longer than most people. He's been by my side through so many ups and downs, 6 house moves, a breakup, a new relationship and marriage. Through illnesses, deaths and new additions (other pets obviously!).

As the recent months have passed and I've seen him start to age, his morality has become very apparent to me and I have struggled with the thought of life without him.
His grey hair is creeping up his face, a cloudiness appearing deep in his eyes, he walks rather than runs up the stairs and he is happier to sleep more during the day compared to his usual need to play 24/7.
Hopefully, we won't be separated for many years yet, but I know I don't have forever left with him and so we've been being more purposeful with our time, being more patient and making the most of our experiences. We actually took him on a special holiday at the beginning of the month for an early birthday celebration and some of those moments will live with me forever - especially getting to properly swim in the sea at Scotland's most southern point with him. I have photos from that little trip to share on here soon too.

With both his and my mental and physical difficulties we have an interesting life, different to that of most average human/dog relationships. He can't go on normal everyday walks, we have to be concious of where we go and who will be there and accept the fact we may have to leave places early if there are too many other dogs around but I wouldn't change my extremely intelligent, overly sensitive, consciously caring, absolutely gorgeous little lad for anything.

We are those people who have a party (of sorts) for our dog, he gets presents and every single year I have handmade a birthday banner. His daddy works every day apart from Wednesdays and my parents were down the Wednesday before his birthday for a hospital appointment so Wednesday the 24th was the day to celebrate!

He absolutely LOVES presents, in particular, just opening presents haha so he got to open those that he hadn't already gotten to use previously* and the humans all had a nice 'picky tea'. Then the following Friday, on his actual birthday I took his annual birthday portraits and had a lovely quiet day together.

*He got a new harness and cooling insert which he had early to take on our trip with us and a special new personalized water bowl from Emma Bridgewater that I wanted him to get use of straight away when it arrived.

Check below for the video of him opening his presents and some more photos!