Routines (Oso's Rescue - Day 4)

Today I think you were starting to catch on to the routine. Your barking was much less, and I was greeted this morning by more wiggles than barks. Everyone in the house likes that accomplishment! Once we went outside to your special place in the yard, you were prancing around, and nosing at my hands checking for your pink medicine. Well you sure had me figured out. Once again you sucked down every last drop of the liquid, nibbling at the ends of the syringe. What you didn't know, was that I had figured you out as well, and I held firmly to the syringe this time as to prevent you from swiftly removing it from my fingers. When we came back inside I shared your poop story with Brandon. It finally wasn't runny! He was thrilled, of course, that I had shared this information with him at breakfast time. Sometimes I forget that non-medical folks might tend to have a more queasy stomach than mine. At any rate, it didn't bother me in the slightest, and I was tickled about yet another improvement. I had to share it with a couple of our other friends too who had been asking about you. Hey...they asked! I simply passed on the information.

At feeding time I tried to convince you to get in your kennel before I set the food down, but we were not understanding each other very well. I tried the patient approach, and stood quietly with your bowl. You were dancing all around in front of your kennel, but just weren't catching on to the actual 'getting in' part. I thought that with your prior sporadic feedings, that maybe right now food time was too much of an overload in itself. I made a mental note to work on this some more later.

A good amount of whining still ensued again after your meal this morning. But as much as I would have liked to offer you the entire food bin to binge on, I didn't think you quite grasped the consequences of those actions. But no amount of explaining seemed to satisfy you. You are an intent listener. Whenever I chat with you those cute little brown ears perk up and your eyes intently focus on your conversationalist. And then just like you understood completely, you always seem to cock your head at just the right moment. Or sometime you may just show your resignation or relief with a deep chested sigh.

When Elizabeth got home from school this afternoon, you were the first one she visited. Not me, or Chris, or even the other dogs. In fact, she put them all outside so you could have her undivided attention without the interference of the 3 other brown noses. I think she really likes you. She washed out your bowls and re-filled your water dish. I saw her running with you in your special area of the yard together. I sure wish I would've had my camera. I saw her enticing you with a large chunk of wood. And then ever so thoughtful, she made sure to put the wood in the trash when you were done playing so as to not leave any germs behind for another dog to find later. I think you two frolicked for nearly 15 minutes together before she brought you back inside.

When I peeked on you again, you were snout deep in the XXL Kong. Elizabeth had made several of them days earlier, and had unwrapped the biggest one of all for you to enjoy in your kennel. I think this one was stuffed with cottage cheese with bits of string cheese and at a lot of kibble. You worked diligently at every angle to reach the stuff stuck to the insides.

I took the afternoon to do some housework before my work-weekend. Your eyes tracked my movements around the kitchen and living room as I picked up school backpacks, a few stray glasses, and small accumulations of clutter. Okay, well maybe you only had one eye on me. Because at one point I looked over and you had curled your paws around your Kong, and pinned it against your chest so it couldn't escape. So, now I knew you were an expert wrestler too.

When it was time to vacuum, your attention turned though. There was no fear in your eyes at all. It was more like a look of amazement. Your whole head moved as I ran the vacuum around the edges of your kennel. Every second or so you would pause to take a few licks from your Kong, look up at me, and then back to the vacuum again. Chris chuckled as we both watched your reactions. I did a few zig zags in front of the kennel door and your tail started to wag. I asked you if you wanted to play.

Usually Buddy likes to follow me around as I vacuum the house. I wondered if you would do the same thing once you kicked your bug. You seem very relational. I bet you would.

Just before 5:30pm you started to dance around. I don't know if you were feeding off the energy of the other dogs, or you really knew it was dinner time. I started putting some salmon oil gel caps in your food to help get your skin and coat whipped into shape. It may take a while. But maybe with spring coming soon you'll just shed off the remaining coarse, lusterless, fur.

Tonight I took you on a walk up the road to a 10 acre vacant property. We worked on a long zippy lead and you fetched sticks. I say fetched because once you picked them up you would muster up a whole lot of speed and try to run right past me. All the while, bucking like a bronco (this must have been a glimpse of puppiness). I only let you get away with it a few times, then decided there was no time like the present to teach you about the actual act of a retrieve. At first you really didn't understand why, when I called you to me, that once you arrived I would take the stick away. Even more puzzling to you was that you had to first sit before I would throw it again. But in short order, and several repetitions later, you still didn't really get it. But you did it anyway.

Since we had some open space, and no other distractions, we also practiced 'wait'. You were already grasping the idea of wait when I would open your kennel door. But soon you realized that 'wait' in the kennel was pretty much the same as 'wait' outside the kennel. A few times you put me to the test. I understood that you were just testing my knowledge of the term 'wait', hoping maybe I'd forgotten. But you weren't quite so lucky. Before we went in for the night you did 4 solid sit/stays in a row while I backed up 10 feet away. I would have to say, that you don't mind the 'wait' part at all. But you would prefer to do it without the 'sit'.

The other dogs had a good play outside at the ponds. The rain has subsided this week, so the water levels had gone down a bit. With more dirt exposed, they got muddier than ever. Some day I'm going to put in a warm water spigot to hose them all off with at the end of the day. Of course, if all goes as planned, we are hoping to plant a whole lot of field grass and clover to help with all the mud in future years. We're shooting for the end of March as long as Mother Nature cooperates.

The evening was oddly uneventful. You quietly laid in your kennel and sometime licked at your now empty Kong toy. I think you are finally catching on to our routine.