Sunday, November 12, 2006
Dog Sitting--Lucky's Revenge
I learned something last night about this dog.
First rule of sleeping dogs
Do not disturb sleeping dogs
What a diva! (Can boys be divas?) Last night I was getting in to bed and trying to get all settled in before calling the dog up. Well, el poocho did not wish to wait and jumped up before I had the covers positioned the way I wanted them to be positioned. He curled up in to a tight ball, gave me a look and then closed his little eyeballs. Excuse me dog, I’m not quite ready. He was laying on a corner of the cover that I had wanted to put over me and so I reached out to start to lift him off of it and MEE ROWR! the reaction I got! Mr. Cranky Pants wanted to sleep and did not wish to be touched! Hey! Who paid for this bed! In the end I won but cripes the attitude I had to endure.
The previous night was actually kind of funny. I had gone to sleep with the dog in my arms, much to the cats’ displeasure. I woke up some time in the early, early morning and the white cat was in my arms. I’m a regular David Copperfield. I fell back asleep, woke up a little later, the white cat was gone and the dog was standing by my head, poking his nose in my face. My cats do this periodically and I’m convinced they are checking to see if we are still breathing. “Are you still alive? I want to chase cats and tear up the furniture!”
I woke up yet again sometime after that and I had the white cat, the kitten and the dog all sitting either on me or as close to me as possible in some sort of power struggle between them. I could not move. I was trapped by animals who were having a mind battle with each other. “The human is mine! I am her favorite!” “NO! I AM her favorite!” “She likes me best!” “Well I own her, that’s why I’m sitting on her!” This all happened again earlier this afternoon when we all took a nap. You ever get the feeling we were put on this earth for their amusement?
Anyhoo, the dog and I went to an off leash park today. As far as I know, this is the first time this dog has ever been to an off leash park. See, ze pooch doesn’t exactly play well with others and taking him off the leash is what you would do if you never want to see him again. We entered the off leash park and I did a couple of things with the dog before deciding he was ready to be off leash. We were in the dog park about 5 minutes while I watched how the dog reacted to the things I was doing, some commands I gave him and how I led him around. I also checked to ensure there was no way he could escape although, from experience, I know that when you let the dog off leash in this sort of environment, THAT is precisely when they keep very close tabs on you and will come to you when you call them.
We stayed at the offleash park for about three hours until it was evident that even though the dog was having a grand time, he was tired and needed to get inside to cool off and rest. So we came home and both of us passed out. He’s had a couple more walks today and sometimes he listens and sometimes he doesn’t but overall, he has done really well and come a long way in the four short days I’ve had him. (See, I’m no Cesar Milan....that guy would have had the dog doing everything right within the day...still, considering he went from snapping, lunging and wanting to fight every other dog to how he was in the dog park today...I think I did a pretty damn good job.)
Tomorrow he goes back home and I’m going to miss having him around. Dogs are really good to have, ya know?
So, here is the best pic I have of him at the park today. He was having so much fun that he wouldn’t sit still long enough for me to get a good, frontal shot. It matters not. What matters is that he is getting socialized and he enjoyed himself. That, really, is all that counts.
I have a really funny story about him and that German Shepard but I want his owner to hear it first.
