Wednesday. November the 19th.
2 pm
We stayed right on schedule today. The guys slept away all of the daylight. Buddy got up and got some food. Bubba crawled out of bed and finally got dressed for the day. I grabbed leashes and both guys went nuts, like they hadn’t walked in weeks. My sister’s dog reacts like that. You get her leash from the hanger in the laundry room, and it becomes a quest to get the leash on her and get out, because she’s so excited she can’t stop running back and forth in the house. The dudes started acting just like that, and the energy level stayed high the whole trip.
We headed up to the gate out to PCH. Buddy always runs when we do that, zig-zagging across the parking area. Out the gate, we headed into town. We ran into our friend Sami with her dog Princess, heading on Green Lantern behind The Point, towards Santa Clara. Princess has really come along great. She was a rescue with some pretty big anger issues, and now she’s calm and sweet. She is now friendly to me, after seeing me with Buddy – my passport into the world of a positive reputation among the canines. But she’s fine with me now, even when I don’t have the guys. She met Bubba for the first time, and he didn’t bark. His tail was wagging, and they got along fine – both timidly approaching each other, but it went over well. It’s good to have a new friend for the guys.
Sami went on her way, and me and the guys headed down Santa Clara, with Buddy pulling excitedly the whole way. We turned on Ruby Lantern to head back over to Del Obispo, tho I wanted to stay on Santa Clara – quieter and far less traffic, both cars and pedestrians.
The guys were getting all sorts of attention from the ladies tonight. A couple out walking on Del Obispo, two young ladies working the hostess podium at the fancy pizza joint.
We were walking, getting close to Shwack, and I was texting. Both guys were to my right, between me and the buildings and shops, safely away from the street on the other side of me. But even when it’s safe, I need to watch them. I wasn’t paying attention, and Buddy ducked into a furniture store to do some shopping. He didn’t put up a fight when I said we had to continue on.
We turned back towards Santa Clara at Amber Lantern, and walked to the end where the harbor view spot is. Buddy ran right to the fence to sniff around. But approached, but as soon as he could see the water/harbor, he freaked out again like yesterday. He crouched into a defensive position, his tail tucked and he lowered his ears. I picked him up, and he was fine. We walked right up to the fence, and he just looked at the view, like he was fascinated by what he could see from that height. I thought he might be even more concerned that he was unsafe at that height, or that I might toss him over the cliff – but he stopped looking scared at all. He seems to have come to trust me so much that he feels safe when I’m carrying him. That’s priceless.
We walked over to one of the benches and I sat down, and sat Bubba on the bench next to me. He instantly started shaking. He was still scared. I picked him back up, and carried him away from the view area, and put him down. It was only 10 feet at the most, but once down he seemed to completely forget the Big Scary Ocean behind us. He sniffed and peed and went back to enjoying the journey.
I steered them back towards home from there. We had been on the road a while, and I worry about over-taxing Bubba with long walks. But he had more than enough in the tank. I have caught a cold – while Bubba seems to have gotten over his – and the guys had plenty left at the end of the walk. I was the one that was tired.
We walked for an hour and a half. Buddy pooped, Bubba did not.
9 am
Buddy was up, but did not greet me at the door. I opened the door, and he was at the piano bed, jabbing Bubba with his nose. He needed out. If he was already in “wake up Bubba!” mode, he had to go bad.
Bubba got up, but was being difficult about the harness, and Bubba was probably close to agony, so I wasn’t going to fight thru Bubba’s resistance, even if it was playful. I ignored him after two quick attempts to get the harness on and took Buddy out.
Once out, he didn’t seem to be in that big of a rush. He just wanted to get out.
We did a lot of “let’s go this way,” followed by “oh, no, I changed my mind” starting down paths, or up the hill, and then vetoing the decision almost immediately. He pooped, and then we randomly ambled about for a while, but not for very long.