I think today was the day you became a member of the pack. This morning you could hardly wait to be fed. You pranced and danced in you kennel as I prepared all the food bowls in the kitchen. Everyone is on different amounts of food, various vitamins, and one on medication. There is a large piece of paper taped inside the dog closet, just above the food. It reads:
Mossy - 1 flat cup
Henna - 1 1/2 flat cups
Buddy & Chuck - 2 1/2 flat cups
Oso - 2 flat cups (and a daily kong)
Since, at some point, every member of the household has a turn feeding the dogs, the instructions are the best way to assure that everyone gets the right amount of food. During the summer months or at times when the dogs are hunting, competing, or just playing hard, we usually have to feed them at lot more to keep them from losing weight. The note in the dog closet gets changed every few months. I figured out the math one day. During the off season, this equates to 133lbs of high protein performance dog food per month, in addition to the occasional healthy vegetables and meats I might cook. The ongoing joke at our house, is that I cook better for the dogs than for the humans. The truth is that I tend to burn less for the dogs than I do my family. I am a terrible cook, but I can boil up a mean batch of sweat potatoes!
After breakfast we spent some time together inside the house. Your energy level is sky high in the mornings, so it was easier to keep you dialed down a bit when you were alone. For a while I let you play with Henna. But your idea of play was to tuck your butt and do high speed laps through the living room, around the couch, into the dining room, and around the kitchen table. I had to remind you several times that doing your best imitation of Parnelli Jones was not acceptable in the house. Realizing I wasn't going to get any work done, I sent you outside to play with Chuck while our friend Brandon worked near the front of the property. In short order, you had buddied up with Chuck. I even saw the two of you have a pretty evenly matched wrestle. Although, you were now soaked from rolling around on the wet grass.
Eventually I finished my work, and myself, Mossy, Buddy, and Henna headed out to enjoy a rare bit of blue sky and sunshine. I wandered around the yard and watched you interact with the pack.
You had definitely figured out Mossy. You knew that you could chase and play with her, but you should never steal her toy. Mossy is the supreme controller of the toys (except when I have them). You might be able to retrieve it if your lucky, but if you drop it, she will be the one to pick it up and bring it back. If you had tried to pry or tug it out of her mouth; well let's just say you might get more than you bargained for. Mossy has always been a work in progress. She is a social climber, and tries to test her limits every day. Mossy's world is very controlled. Sit and wait for food, must go out of the door after me, bring me the toys, etc. Mossy loves people, and is a compact bundle of love. She likes to try to sneak onto the bed, and under the blankets of our bed at night when we're sleeping.
You were beginning to learn to respect your elders, although, your learning curve was a little less steep with this affair. Although I know that you like to give a hello sniff, you have yet to understand your limits. At 7 1/2, Henna is a patient soul. She will even stand still and let you move all around her, and patiently accept the whole 'once over'. But what you didn't seem to understand is that her rear end smells the exact same as it did 30 seconds ago. There is simply no need to linger; and Henna wholeheartedly agrees. After the 3rd or 4th rear end examination, she simply tires of your lack of civility, whips around, lets out a quick GRRRRR, and simply walks away. Henna is a dynamo at work and at play. But in the house, she is a gentle and loving soul that would prefer to stay constantly by my side. She is a mama's dog.
You and Buddy were quickly becoming good friends. Raised hackles and a certain wariness had given way to a fun game of show and tell. You preferred to spend your time with Buddy. If he went to explore the muddy depths of the empty pond, you followed closely behind. When Buddy got the wild hair to run, you were trailing behind him looking like a extension of his shadow bouncing across the grass.
After the initial bursts of energy were exacerbated, I decided to retrieve some outside toys from the garage. There was a large, hard plastic, red Jolly Ball that could be pushed and kicked around the property, but was too big to pick up in your mouth. There was a smaller, soft purple ball that had been well loved. This one had originally had a handle, but had been mangled over time, and finally cut off by me. And last, but not least, I brought out another, softer Jolly Ball of the same large size as the hard one. But this ball was bright blue with a large handle for carrying. This one was Mossy's favorite. She would carry it around the yard, roll it down the hill, retrieve it, and repeat many times over without the need for a person to throw it. Of course, every so often I would request the toy, carry it around myself, then offer to throw it for her again.
You loved that big red ball. Funny, too, because it was also Buddy's most favorite toy. He yipped and yelped as he chased it at high speeds across the yard. You were never far behind. Sometimes he would shove it way out ahead, and you would run up to and and try to pick it up. It didn't take you long to realize it was an impossible task. This was one toy that could not fall prey to a snatch and grab.
The two of you pushed it back and forth across the yard, through the creek and around the dozens of tiny christmas trees that grew on one side of the property. But inevitably it got away from you both as it sped down the hill toward the mucky pond. In a matter of seconds you were both covered in mud. Buddy would push the ball, creating waves of muddy water in the small remaining puddle in the very center of the pond that splashed the front of you. Oh yes, we were going to have bath night tonight for certain.
I grabbed the camera from the house and snapped some pictures of the five of you playing together. The sunshine was nice, and I was finally able to get pictures with enough natural light to make them not blurry. I got some great shots. My favorite was a completely unplanned fluke. Mossy was coming toward me, carrying her big blue ball in her mouth by it's handle. But just behind her, and off to the side were each of the dogs. They were all coming toward me in a nearly perfectly straight line. As the swaggered closer, I was laughing and imagining the theme song from Clint Eastwood's, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. This will be a picture I will treasure for many years to come.
A few hours before dusk I began to bring one dog at a time into the house for their bath. One at a time, each dog would climb into the tub for me to spray off the mud and dirt from under their coat and suds them up good with shampoo. Buddy was so filthy, that I actually had to wash him twice to before the rinse water ran clear. Buddy really likes to play in the water; no matter if it were a crystal clear lake or simply a muddy 12 inches to splash in. But once thing was for certain. If it was there, he was going to wallow in it. And you, being his protege, went right in along with him.
After dinner, you and Elizabeth played on the floor. You sat adjacent from her and watched intently as she moved chess pieces across the board that was positioned in the middle of the living room carpet. Wanting to play with you, she put away her game and the two of you had some one on one time. You sprawled on your back, with your legs stretched out behind you, resting on her lap. Your tongue happily dangled from one side of your mouth, and you looked a bit silly. I had never seen her interact with any of our dogs in the way she played and cared for you. Undoubtably you and Elizabeth share a special bond.
The night was a pretty routine one, and you were really catching on to the routines. During our dinner, you lay peacefully in your kennel. The new rug I placed on the bottom of your kennel was holding up so far. There were no chewed up pieces....yet. I noticed that ever since our swim yesterday, you were doing a bit more coughing. I was beginning to wonder if maybe you have been just inhaling bits of water when you swam. I would need to keep a close eye on this, and planned on sharing it with Dr. W later this week.
You smelled wonderfully clean, and had much softer fur after your bath this afternoon. Two weeks spent in a kennel make for a bit of a stinky dog. But I was convinced that all the dirt, mud, and grass that you had been rolling in, helped your dry skin and shedding coat. Indeed it did the trick! What fun adventure can we have tomorrow?
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