Wednesday. The 4th of February
10:40 pm
Bubba shared rice cakes with us!
He always snubbed us, before, when Buddy and I had them. Tonight he was more interested, and he kept sniffing at it when Buddy was eating one. He seemed to be trying to push Buddy out of the way and steal it. I broke off a tiny piece of one and took it to him, only to get the same old sniff-n-snub. But he came back quickly. I crushed one to just-this-side of dust, and put it out for him to eat, and he gobbled it right up, and wanted more! He’s now officially part of our Rice Cake Snacking Club.
The guys were up later tonight. We tried to do some gaming tonight, but Bubba got overly enthusiastic and started barking, and I don’t want to disturb the neighbor downstairs, so I shut down the gaming.
All the dinner was eaten. The day food had to be reloaded, and they didn’t touch the refill.
Bubba had a couple of coughing fits, and one really horrible individual cough that sounded painful. But except for the exact moment he coughed, he acted like it had never happened. Tail wagging and happy – he coughed, stared at me for a second, as if wondering why I was staring at him, then sat down to scratch his ear with a foot.
Mail & UPS, Ralph’s
Lots of mail, nothing for Jeremy.
2 packages at the UPS Store and a lot of mail. Nothing for Jeremy.
Picked up 2 packages of hot dogs on sale.
5 pm
The guys wanted a walk, which was just about perfect. Sunset is drifting later each day, and 5pm is still very light. Sunset is closer to the bottom of the hours. It won’t be too much later when walks after dinner will be back in play, which makes everything easier.
Two days ago I figured out that if I turn the harness inside-out before pulling it over their heads, it doesn’t catch and it comes off easily, without the guys fighting their way out of them. It seems counter-intuitive, because the straps and buckles are then on the inside, the side with their bodies, but they just slide right out. It only took two years of them tugging and shaking their way out of them before I figured out an easier, more comfortable way for them to do it.
We walked about 40 minutes. Buddy pooped, Bubba did not.
3:20 pm
Did another clean up of Buddy’s wound, and put on a dose of the steroids. It will looks like it’s “healing” vs “healed” but it’s not infected, and it’s closed, not exposed. Just clean and one dose of the steroids will be enough. He’s not scratching or picking at it, even after the peroxide and the gel are applied.
3 pm
We went out for a very short walk, which is exactly what I expected. It was 88 today. It’s just an anomaly; a single-day heat wave. It was cool the day before, and supposed to be in the low 70s tomorrow. But it was hot. The guys didn’t want to go out earlier, and I half-expected we’d step outside and they’d have immediate regrets. But we actually went out the front entrance to the complex, and around to the walkway back in by the mailboxes. Barely long enough to even call it a walk.
We were out less than 15 minutes and nobody pooped.
9:30 am
We all wanted to walk. Getting the guys dressed and out was easy – they were leading the way. But Buddy decided to be in a selfish mood. We got over by the mailboxes, he pooped and peed and then he didn’t want to walk anymore, giving Bubba no time for exercise and his own breaks. So we took Buddy home and then Bubba and I continued our walk.
We did a tour of almost all of the neighborhood. Bubba really loves long walks when he’s not restricted by having to share route decisions. We walked on the paths and grass on the side of the complex, along the path to PCH. We walked almost all the way up before cutting across over by the gate out to PCH. Bubba wanted to check out the grass area, but the landscapers were using power tools there, and I thought it best if we avoided that.
We headed back into the complex, and he wanted to go over to the dog park area. He wasn’t afraid of the area at all today, and walked around sniffing the grass, and marking his territory so the rotweiller knew to be afraid. We continued thru the condos, popped out near Jolene’s and I had to steer Bubba away from there – he wanted to go down the path that’s in the area Jessica lives.
We went around by the jacuzzi and through the labyrinth of condos on that side of the complex, then started to wind out towards the street, when it seemed like he suddenly had a change of mind. It was like a little switch got flipped and he thought, “time to go home”.
We started moving more rapidly through the complex towards home, although we still stopped to do some sniffing and marking.
We walked for an hour and 40 minutes, from the very start of the walk until Bubba and I were done with our solo walk.
Buddy pooped, Bubba did not.
8 am
I was way too early. Bubba gave me a “not yet, man” look. Buddy yawned and stretched and was too sleepy for anything else.
Buddy’s head looks good. It looks like there’s more hair missing, but only when pulling the hair forward to look. It’s covered when relaxed. The area is semi-clear and easy to see the wound, and it’s definitely in the latter stages of healing. Now that I can see it clearly, I can do less guessing about when to stop the steroids, and stop when it’s healed. It definitely does not look like it’s being irritated by new scratching, and that’s the most-important thing.
I put out breakfast, checked (and filled) water dishes, looked for accidents. Then left the guys alone to get more rest.