Playing in a Cool Breeze

As quick as the heat came on the last few weeks, it has let up an been a nice couple of days.  Elle and Chance are blowing out their undercoats; there is fur absolutely everywhere.  Today was my attempt to get a grip on the fur with lots and lots of brushing.  I swear the two of them basked in the attention. 

Both dogs are so itchy.  No fleas, no mange.  Chance has a "hot spot", something with which I have no experience.  I did the natural thing, cutting all the hair away, applying Neosporin, and watching it.  The internet confirms I did alright.  His poor paws are red as well.  I cut down some of his fur, yet not too far, I want him to have a barrier just in case this is all grass related.

Elle is itchy too but hasn't any hot spots.  I have only been giving her Benadryl at night which really seems to help.  Both dogs may be on Benadryl until this spring has passed.  Turning on the water system has kept the dead grass down and the green is beginning to show through.  

They now get an egg every morning over their food.  It's something Elle's foster Mom did for her as she had chickens.  I figure Elle didn't itch when she came to me so  I started including an egg a day.  Flax seed oil, they both get flax seed oil on their food too.  I'm due to buy food soon and I may be taking that up a grade this time just in case the food is bothering them.

Elle is a great dog.  She is less, uhm, spasmodic;  I think she is getting used to human petting and hugging.  While she has always let me hug her, she often would spaz out after a few seconds, lift her head forcefully, and knock me under my chin.  Not only has my brain been rattled by this action, but my cheek and tongue are missing sizable chucks.

In the coolness of twilight those two dogs play chase.  They eat right when I get home and typically it is too hot to play outside.  Hours later as the cool air settles in, the chase game begins.  A lot of noises, a lot of  running, some barking, and a lot of smiling. Happy.  That's what I want for them, as well as myself, simply to be happy.

A Quick Walk

It's been a hectic two weeks.  Too much working leaving me too tired to blog.  This week I am making a concerted effort to stop doing three things at one time.  So far that is working much better for me. 

The wind is back in force today which altered the dog walking schedule.  The unseasonable heat had forced us all to walk in the morning.  Today it had to be quick before the wind kicked in.  I popped out of bed tossed on clothes and away we went. 

Typically we walk through the fields first and the dogs do their "business".  Yet today we were rushed. Chance decided to do his business on someone's lawn and I was not prepared with a bag for poop duty.  My attitude is, oh well. Things happen.  It is only a poop, not a big deal. 

To the neighbor of the offended lawn it was the straw that broke the camel's back.  He pulled in his driveway as we were leaving the scene of the poop. 

He screamed at the top of his lungs, "Hey!  You aren't going to just leave that there are you?"

"I don't have a bag today", was my reply.

"You are a horrible person for leaving that.  It's horrible people like you who ruin it for the rest of us!"

He was screaming even louder.  We were already three houses down.  Two minutes later he drove up to us in his car, window down, still screaming at the top of his lungs.  It was obscene.  He threatened to bring his dog over to poop on my yard. That made me laugh as his poor dog never gets a walk so I knew that would never happen.  I smiled, mentioned that he might be over reacting as he was still following us in his car; he was driving on the wrong side of the road. 

He was beginning to scare me as he was demanding to know where I lived (I had already walked past my house there was no way I wanted this bulbous nosed man with a ginormous anger management problem to know where I lived.   I asked if he had been drinking and he turned the car around.  He had been so loud that neighbors from all around were coming out of their houses asking him what was wrong.  Of course he told them, still screaming.  I, the offender waived at them and kept walking.

It was a relief that the people had come out of their homes to see what the commotion was about because I felt safer with them there were to witnesses to his insane behavior.  That's when I let down my guard and tears began to roll down my cheeks.  Eventually he drove home and I walked back to mine. 

I'm not proud of being a poop polluter, maybe pooper for short.  It is not my finest moment.  Had he offered me a bag I would have gladly picked the thing up.  Had he asked politely I would have driven back with a bag after I dropped the dogs off at home.  My initial reaction was to bag the thing and drop it off at his doorstep.  Vindictive, I know.  Frankly, what was a grown man doing home at 7:00 in the morning, un-showered, drinking and driving and obsessing about a poop on his neighbor's lawn?
 
I figure this man's  life must be awful and I shouldn't intentionally add to it.  I resigned the following: I will never walk the dogs without my cell,  I'll start to carry mace again, and I may, or may not remember a poop bag.

Week Four: Family

It has been a week of visitors.   My friend Gena, Don the handyman, my sister Denise, all came by the house this week.  Chance, who loves and adores all people, constantly barks with happiness as new people enter.  Elle is more reserved.  She sniffs the person while weighted on her back legs so she can put herself into an instant reverse.  Eventually she gives the lick of approval and rolls onto her back for a belly rub.   I noticed by the time my sister came by, the third new person to come into the house, Elle was more curious than timid and was quick to give the tongue slap of approval.  It is good to see her growing.

Today we will take our longest walk yet as the weather is mild and there is no time line.  Elle and Chance have come to work things out on the walk.  Elle no longer walks in an "s" shaped pattern pushing either Chance or I off of the sidewalk.  She seems more in tune with us; when I call her name during the walk she makes eye contact now and when we meet the neighborhood children she doesn't shy from them. 

You never do know just what you are getting yourself into when you invite an animal to be part of your life.   It makes no difference if it is a puppy or a dog; all animals come with their own personalities and quirks much of which is not ours to choose. While we can anticipate that certain breeds will likely come with particular behaviors, there is no "rule" about these things.  

Chance, my Rough Collie, is a quiet dog with the exception that he barks.  I know Collies are alarm dogs and that they have a tendency to bark.  I get that it is his way of communicating, but he is really talkative. Lucky for me he had been previously debarked.  While I'm not sure debarking is an option with which I agree as I would prefer to train the dog to bark more selectively,  I am confident the neighbors are relieved Chance was debarked. 

Elle is my noisy dog.  I know where she is and what she is doing by the sounds.  Chomp, chomp, chomp.  Elle chewing an elk antler.  Lap, lap, lap.  Elle gulping water.  The alarm clock has become obsolete as the sound from Elle's giant yawn each morning has taken it's place.  Back to the water issue, I have never seen any dog lap up so much water and swallow so little.  It doesn't just drip from her beard, it pours from her mouth.  I have resigned that  I will never have dry socks again. 

It is also the first spring I have had with this crew.  Both dogs love to roll upside down in the grass and it is quite cute until they pop through the dog door, fur laden with dead grass, and shake it off inside the house.  Today is Easter Sunday, a time when many families gather together.  As I sip my second cup of coffee this morning with two dogs sleeping happily at my feet, I realized that we are a family.  We play, eat, and sleep together.  We have disagreements.  We accept each others quirky behaviors.  We genuinely care for and about each other.  We are family. 

Week Three: Spring

A bit of nice weather has come our way.  The air smells green as little shoots unfold from plants shaking off their dormancy.   As always around this time of year, rabbits too come out of hiding and can be seen everywhere.  While many are hopping,  many are scattered on the roadside having met cars. 

I arrived home to find Chance and Elle basking in the sun.  As they greeted me I saw Elle had dirt on her nose.  I wondered where she had been digging.  I grabbed their leashes for our walk. All the rabbits I had seen lately had me a bit gun shy about the first episode of Elle meeting a rabbit on our walks.  She's a 115 pound sight hound.  We tested those waters today with a cat.  Cat, rabbit, both are small fuzzy mammals.  

Elle and Chance both were entirely too interested in the cat when we came across her.  Yet my arm remains in my socket and they did keep walking, albeit slowly, and with their necks twisted backward so they could view the cat.  Personally, I thought it was a success. After today I realized that the rabbit encounter may go better than I think. 

When we returned home I began tackling the chore of picking up the poops.  The first poop I came across looked odd.  I put on my glasses.  Was it a dead bird?  I couldn't find a beak.  I poked around with a stick flipping it over.  Was that fur? The fur had been carefully licked so that it was sticky and standing straight up. Four legs and a tail, a baby, headless, bunny. Not all rabbits will lose their hop due to cars this spring.  If I had to guess, I believe the head is likely buried in one of the two freshly dug holes in the garden area.  I asked the dogs and they aren't talking.