Thursday, March the 12th
9 pm
The guys had settled in. Buddy moved to his sleeping perch, and Bubba moved into the bedroom. I was in the middle of schooling, so not starting cleaning up for a while yet, but came home to get files that I needed, so stopped to update the log.
5:50 pm
Buddy and I did a quick after-dinner walk. We went over to the path to PCH, he pooped, and we went almost straight home, but first walking over by the mailboxes.
3 pm
The guys were just relaxing. Bubba got up and came over to stare at me. After a few minutes, I got up and picked him up and put him on the couch. He ran back and forth, shedding all over as he went, and then he stopping on the center cushion. I moved between the table and couch and said, “You need to move to one side or the other. That’s my seat, I need to work.” He answered by lying down. Even if he could hear me, he wouldn’t understand English. How does he know exactly what to do??? I reached down and prodded him to scoot over. He moved and I sat down. Then he moved over and offered up his face to get some chin and neck scratches.
For a very long time, I could pet him, but if I had a hand on each side of his head he would freak out. One hand only, was the rule. Now he trusts me enough – or the quality of chin scratching is so good – to let me work both hands at the same time. After the face got it’s share, the haunches needed scratching. While we were working on that he started having a coughing fit. He hopped off the couch, leaving behind enough hair to build another dog from scratch. When the coughing fit was over, both guys moved over to sit by the front door and stare at me. It was walk time.
We went across the street and through the memorial, where both guys stopped cold, and just stood there. After a long period of not moving, it was time to go home, and we went back through the memorial. I glanced at my watch – not even 10 minutes. But Bubba wanted to wander north on Selva after we came out of the memorial. We took our time exploring the outside of the park. Bubba wanted to cross the street across from the entrance to the complex.
After we left the memorial, we did a lot more exploring. It turned into a 30 minute walk. Bubba pooped, Buddy did not.
Noon
Buddy and I went for a short, indecisive walk. It started with me running next door to put laundry in the dryer, and Buddy managed to dash out the door. It took a lot of stern talk to get him to go back inside. I didn’t want to try to grab him, because he might see that as playing and run down the stairs. I got him back inside, and started to head home, then thought that maybe he ran out because he was desperate to relieve himself. So I went back in, got him on a leash and we went out.
But whatever had him excited enough to run outside, it wasn’t a bathroom trip. We went across to the park. He wanted to run much of the way, but my old knees weren’t in a running mood today. We got just past the memorial and he was done and wanted to go home. No poop, and the only peeing was marking a couple of spots. We were only out 10 minutes or so.
Buddy seems to be adapting, quicker. I had come over with a Rubik’s Cube, and he was on the rug by the door working on his bunny when I came in. I held out the cube, and he was fascinated by it and got up to check it out and give it an apraisal sniff – and then the bunny got scooped up behind him.
After a fetch and a gate breach, I tried the cube distraction again. He was having none of it. He would pick up the bunny and move it out of my reach, and didn’t allow himself to be distracted by the cube at all. When I stopped trying to distract him, he turned to face me, bunny in his jaws, and held eye contact while he repeatedly and rapidly squeaked the bunny. It was an obvious taunt. He had reclaimed his glory after being tricked with the cube one time.
8:45 am
The guys tricked me. Just after 9pm last night, they both went to bed. Bubba had already been in bed, but Buddy gave up working on his bunny and his paws, jumped up on his perch, and hung his chin off the side and went to sleep. It was a bit early, but they both looked exhausted, and their bodies wouldn’t have adjusted to the time change, so it was just past 10pm to them. I got up and cleaned up everything. They didn’t follow me around; they didn’t even watch – they must have been super tired. Around 9:30 I was done cleaning, and went home. I usually stop for head pats, but I didn’t want to disturb them tonight.
This morning, I noticed the time on my kitchen clocks, which haven’t been changed. I had it backwards – the time when I left was 8:30 to them, not 10:30. That explained why I felt so much more rested after going to bed a bit early, myself.
Both guys were up and at the door when I showed up – no surprise. They were animated and excited. They wanted to go out. I checked the bathroom and deck quickly to see how much of a mess Bubba, who didn’t poop at all the day before, had made. But there was nothing – no accidents. I put a rush on getting the guys out – what a trooper the little guy was!
I stopped at the kitchen to put out the breakfast to marinade so it would be ready when we got back. We finished the almost-empty box of broth yesterday, so I grabbed a new one. I shook it, and broth came out. I opened it, and found that it had already been opened – the safety seal was gone. I put the lid back on, tightly to shake it again. I figured that if it had been opened by someone at home, maybe the lid just wasn’t on well, and that’s why some sprayed out when I shook it. But it was still leaking with the cap put on well. “When in doubt, throw it out” – I dumped it and trashed it.
Then grabbed the last new box, and it was also open. I wasn’t sure if all three boxes had been opened on purpose or not, and if I had just tossed a perfecly good box. I put the last box back in the fridge, but I wouldn’t use it. Not knowing if it came from the store unsealed, I wasn’t prepared to risk giving it to the guys. So I opened a pouch of the bone broth and used that. The guys don’t seem to like that as much as the chicken, but the pouch was still sealed, so I knew it was safe.
We then went out for our walk. We went over to the park, had to go around the memorial because our neighbor with the crazy German shepherd was sitting in the memorial. I won’t let the guys within 20 yards of that dog.
We walked 40 minutes, both guys pooped.