Wednesday, January 28
4 pm
Crazy time. I had to use my mother’s car to run to the printer to get some documents printed. Then picked up our dinner. I was supposed to stop at the store and get gas, but that took too long at it was close to dinner time. So ran home.
4:40 – Ate one piece of KFC, then ran next door to feed the guys. Then I got my car and did the UPS Store run. My mom’s car is too small for a lot of packages that come. Rushed home, ate two more pieces of chicken, then tried to get the guys out. They didn’t want to walk.
There were 7 packages, 1 piece of mail and some sort of printout at the UPS Store. Got the mail, and there was one piece of mail for Jeremy, which was junk and trashed.
5:50 pm – Got my mother’s car again, ran to the store for people food, a small tin of Cesar for meds.
1:50 pm
We went for a walk up the path to PCH, up and around to the gate back into the community. Buddy pooped in the planter right down by Selva, which is his usual spot. It’s a good spot, because it’s right by the trash can. Then he pooped again in the planter up near PCH, right by the trash can. I appreciate him not making me carry it half way along the path in either direction.
We saw our neighbor Stan, who lives in a condo facing the path. He was sitting out enjoying the sun. I said hi, and he asked what I was doing. I told him, “my bosses are taking me for a walk!”
We walked 40 minutes, only Buddy pooped.
Buddy
He was scratching at his hot spot this morning. He sat down, and really started clawing at it hard and fast, first with the left foot, then shifted and with the right. I am going to “research” on if there’s something I can put on it, some sort of cream or some over-the-counter thing I can get at Petsmart, just to keep him from scratching until his dad gets home. I really don’t want to have to resort to getting the cone out of the closet, but if there’s no other option, that’s better than letting him dig a hole in his head again.
8:30 am
I had forgotten that I’m supposed to keep them up at night, and playing. This morning, I remember why.
I was late getting up, and it was exactly 8:30 after I got dressed. They have been up early (because I let them sleep early) so no time for coffee this morning. There was a crow on the bannister outside, and he had the guys wound up. They seemed to think I was a bigger, heavier version of the crow when I got to the door, because they seemed surprised that it was me. Both guys were at the door. There was barking and howling coming from the inside.
I had to be careful opening the door, because Buddy wanted to bolt out and chase the crow – which had already flown away when I came up the stairs, anyway. But that helped get them out. They both wanted to get dressed and tethered and get out to walk, so they could chase the already-gone bird. No coffee.
We walked the full length of the park. Bubba walked in the center of the path a couple of times, and seemed to be veering towards the fence when someone would come along and distrupt his process. I don’t want to try to force him to enjoy the fence line, because I might make whatever association he has with the view + me, worse than it was before.
We came across an unfriendly lady with a very friendly shepherd type dog. It was one of these dogs that is aware of it’s own size, and crouches down to pretend to be small so smaller dogs can come up and say hi without intimidation. That’s one of the most-fascinating things in dogs I’ve ever seen. We have two people in our neighborhood with giant dogs, one a 140 pound mastiff, and they do the same thing. They get small so the guys will come up to be friends. That’s not something that’s taught to them – they just know to do it. I find it incredible. Meanwhile, Bubba tries to make himself seem bigger, and it’s less effective – especially sans teeth.
The shepherd got down to say hi, and the lady wanted to keep moving. She was trying to drag a dog that was at least half her own weight, and the dog was refusing. I didn’t want to antagonize her, so I just kept the guys back and let her try to be on her way, but her dog wasn’t helping – and it was impossible not to laugh.
Bubba stopped to poop 3 times. Buddy did not. We walked 50 minutes.