The 9th of April. Thursday.
10:05 pm
I’m home already. Buddy passed out before Bubba tonight. He got up after he went to sleep, moved fromt he recliner to the bed by the front door and spent 5 minutes with his aggressive “remodeling” procedure – pulling, pushing, head-slamming the edges. I worried that he might not be feeling well when he went to sleep while Bubba was still up, but then after seeing him adjusting his bed for comfort, I knew he was okay.
Most of the day food, and an entire bowl of dinner went untouched. The MilkBone and pro-biotic remained untouched. All of the catfood was gone.
Last night, I didn’t even notice that I didn’t struggle to see the last steps on my way home. I’ve gotten so used to the lights, they feel natural now. Tonight I noticed. What a difference!
8:15 pm
I lost track of time, and Costco closes in 15 minutes, so now the Costco run for chicken is a morning project.
6:45-ish pm
Bubba wanted to walk. I was glad. We went across the street and walked the full length of the park. We stopped to say hi to a couple of strangers, friendly dogs. Bubba didn’t bark at any of them. Buddy stopped to get attention from a little girl that couldn’t have been a day over two years old. She absolutely loved Buddy. I wish I had thought to get pictures. I had to pull him back (gently) once, when he reared up on his hind legs – maybe to “kiss” her face. On his hind legs, he would be almost as tall as her, if not a bit more. I didn’t want her scared or knocked over. She didn’t flinch. Her parents didn’t react. I was the only one that seemed to be worried about it. She patted him on the head. He licked her hand. She belly laughed about it. It was the cutest thing ever. I could have had the worst day in the world, and that would have melted all the problems away.
We came back into the neighborhood at the north entrance. Buddy started walking quickly. I thought he was just excited and getting exercise, but I noticed his tail was tucked, and his head was darting from side-to-side. Something had him totally freaked out. It was still over an hour away from darkness, but he seemed to sense a predator, but not from any specific place – again, he was looking around furtively. Bubba walked along, slightly behind Buddy, having absolutely no reaction to it – not even the instinctive awareness from picking up on Buddy’s energy. Whatever was bothering Buddy was a non-factor for Bubba.
We walked about 40 minutes. Both guys pooped.
5:10 pm
I was at home, having dinner with my mom – an unusual event these days. I opened a bottle of Merlot that I picked up early in the week. At 5:05, I was informed that I was late for dinner on the other side of the building a single ‘yip’ from the Alpha.
I had forgotten to take beef out of the freezer, and we had just enough for tonight in the fridge. I took out a package of beef, and noticed there’s no chicken. There’s not enough chicken for tomorrow night’s dinner. So a Costco run is in order this evening.
The guys ate all of the cat food, and didn’t touch the diced Milkbone and pro-biotic. While I was chopping hot dogs, someone bumped the back of my ankle. I thought it was Buddy, getting too close while scrounging for dropped scraps, but it was Bubba. It was no accidental bump, it was a message direct from the Alpha himself. It was dinner time.
2:45 pm
The guys have done a lot of napping today. I tried a couple of times to get Buddy out, but he’d turn to look to see if Bubba was reacting to me getting up with leashes, then decide not to participate. He would stay by the door, instead of running and hiding in a bed, so I could tell he wanted to go, but I wasn’t going to force him.
Shortly before 3, Bubba got up. He stepped out of the bed, stretched and walked over by the front door. I had already grabbed the leashes to see if he would go out. Buddy took the cue, and ran over to the door. Buddy joined us, but not with a fiery enthusiasm, by any means.
We made it just past the condo stairs, and Bubba had had enough. I tried a little coaxing. Buddy had already gone to the full-length of the leash towards Selva. Bubba was not having it. We headed back. I tethered Buddy to Christy’s bench downstairs, and took Bubba back up. I gave Buddy lots of praise and patting for being such a good boy waiting patiently for me. We unhooked from the bench and went on our way.
I could tell this was going to be a good walk. It wasn’t Buddy’s “need bathroom!” type of walk. He was trotting along happily. This was a recreational walk. We headed back out towards Selva on the southern path, and we made it as far as the top of the last stairs before the sidewalk on Selva – and Buddy locked down. We waited a few minutes for him to decide that it was too nice of a day to not walk. I asked, “did you want to go home?” He understands some part of that question, because he immediately pivoted and we headed back.
8:45 am
Bubba’s domain is a dangerous place to walk without shoes. I stepped in something wet on the rug. I have no idea what it was. I’m not interested in a sniff test to find out. I’ll assume one of them carried a water bowl over and spilled some.
Someone threw up in the bedroom. It looked like it was mere minutes before I arrived. Otherwise, no accidents.
Bubba got up as soon as I came in, and wanted to play chase. He dismissed any notion of “indoor voices” and let me know that it was play time.
Buddy ran to get his reindeer to play when I came in. Both bunnys were sitting right by the front door – so there’s something, in his mind, about getting a toy from the basket that’s the catalyst to start a game. Today, my back is much better, so I could play. I still was not getting down in crawling position to play gatekeeper, but I could bend over enough to play tug of war, and to throw the reindeer.
I had fresh coffee, so I figured it was walk time by default. I went to put out the breakfast to soak while we left. Bubba went out onto the deck and pooped. He came back in, and was ready to walk. I got out the harnesses, and he came right over to get dressed to go out. Buddy jumped into the fireplace bed to resist. After getting Bubba’s harness on, I said “okay, we’ll go without you Buddy”, he ran over to the door. We got him dressed and went out.
It was a long walk. Over to the dog park first. Nobody was there. Half of the dog park regulars have moved. We then wove our way through the neighborhood, past the jacuzzi enclosure, and out the north gate onto PCH. Then Buddy led us north to Selva, instead of back towards home. We came around Selva, stopped for Buddy to poop by the north entrance to NBT, then continued home along the sidewalk on Selva. The Alpha got winded and started lagging, so he got picked up and carried for a stretch, then got squiggly and wanted down to walk. He had plenty of bounce in his step for the rest of the trip home.
We walked just about an hour. Buddy pooped, Bubba didn’t need to.
10:05 am
Bubba has the yips. I can’t leave the door open for them to enjoy fresh air when I come home to log.