The 28th of February. Saturday.
5:50 pm
Last walk, just me and Buddy. Quickly across the street, he pooped, we came back home. Bubba was in bed, looking like a victim of his own choice of afternoon adventure. I tried to tell him.
3:45 pm
After the walk, I did the UPS Store run. There were two boxes, one large, one small, and one piece of mail.
2:30-ish pm
The guys are going to be tired. We went on a walk. I just wanted to get them out for a short walk, but there was a mutiny, and Bubba took over the helm, and I had to carry him part of the way home.
My plan was to go out to the path to PCH, roll up to PCH then into the gate and home – let them stretch their legs. We only got out to the sidewalk outside the condo, and Bubba locked down. I thought the sun must be too much. He was squinting and we were facing that direction, tho once we got around the corner between buildings we’d be shielded, as well as on the path. But he wouldn’t budge. He obviously wanted to go back in. So I was going to take him up, and then walk with Buddy.
But it wasn’t home he wanted – he wanted to go the other direction. Not along the sidewalk, but across the parking lot towards the dog park. We ended up walking up and out the gate to PCH – fair enough, the walk I wanted to do, but in reverse. Out the gate and down the path. But when we got to the path, both guys resisted. Bubba first, then Buddy too. I stood, waiting, coaxing, but they wouldn’t come down the path with me. Obviously [to me] they wanted to head back along PCH to the gate and home. But I was wrong again.
So we crossed the street and headed into town. I warned them, it’s hot. There are some places to get water, but it’s still hot. They didn’t listen. I planned to take them down Green Lantern, to where Bubba would reject the view platform, and we’d head home. But they didn’t want to go down Green Lantern.
At Blue Lantern, I tried to get them to do a walk we frequently do – around the plaza, behind the groomers, back up to The Point and home. But no, not that either. We were going down Del Prado. It’s very rare that they are both this insistant and I can’t get one of them to follow me a direction, and the protestor gives up and joins.
Before Ruby Lantern, Bubba took an interest in the parking lot behind Luciana’s, and that was my chance. The guys walked with me to cut across the parking lot, and then we were headed down Ruby Lantern towards Santa Clara – where we turned towards home, walking up behind the plaza and the groomers.
Once we got to The Point again, Bubba was lagging. Even with the available water stops, it was a long, hot walk. I picked him up and carried him to where the hill crested just before the path back to Selva. I’ve had to carry him before when he leds us on adventures without regard for his return trip. But once we’re headed downhill again, he wants to be put down and walk. The guys picked up the pack on the downhill and they jogged mildly – not so fast that I wasn’t walking – and jogged home once back in the community.
Neither guy pooped. I forgot to check how long we were gone.
Noon
It was time to finally get Bubba his meds. The last two days he didn’t participate at treats time, and slept through it. He continued being difficult today, and it took some work, but we got it done. It took a mixture of turkey, filet mignon, Milk Bone and True Chew in with the medication to mask the taste. And he didn’t want to eat from my hand today, so I had to put it on the floor, and he ate it from there. Bubba isn’t the most dainty of eaters, and it ends up being a mess of scattered food and dog spit, but he ate everything I gave him. The cleaning up in the aftermath is worth making sure he’s healthy.
Buddy refused to take his probiotic, even mixed 70/30 with Milk Bone. He really hates those pills.
8:35 am
Both guys were awake and up when I arrived. The Alpha started laying down the law right away, hopefully not waking any neighbors. The guys both started wandering around the condo, like it was someplace that was new to them. I think maybe someone or something happened outside to get them both aggitated. There was a lot of immediate excitement about going for a walk.
We followed Bubba today, who took us over to the path up to PCH, stopped and looking towards PCH, then look up the hill, and seemed to be thinking for a while before he finally took us over to the park. We walked a little over an hour and both guys pooped. I’ll be carrying water for walks today – it’s already hot.