Little Bear will quietly let me sleep as long as I like in the morning, but as soon as I come down the ladder he has certain expectations involving fulsome praise and epic belly rubs. Lately, not entirely to his displeasure, he has instead been latched to a leash and hurried out for a cold morning Jeep ride to S&L’s where we rush to rescue Ghost from the pressure in his geriatric bladder.
And that works. At six walkies a day beginning before the sun clears the ridge, we haven’t had an accident in two days. So I’ve over there at 5, 8, 11, 2, 4:30(ish, because that’s dinnertime for many insistent animals) and 7. That works, but it’s a strain on the schedule and the fuel supply.
You might ask why I don’t just drag his protesting ass to the Lair. First, he has decided that he REALLY doesn’t want to come. Because he can’t jump anymore, I have to pick him up to get him in the Jeep. Ever try to pick up a heavy dog that’s willing to bite you to prevent it? Second, why would I want an incontinent dog in a 200 sq. ft. microcabin with steep stairs he can barely climb? If I had a fenced kennel with lots of shade I’d consider it. But the only available such structures are full of chickens, so no.
He has relaxed to the schedule now, which helps. He likes what he’s used to, so now that he knows what to expect he can hold it till I get there and he gets with the program when I arrive. He’s even a bit more cheerful about it now than he was for the first few days. So it’s working, but I have to fit everything else in between those hard-scheduled chores. And that’s not working perfectly great. Yesterday afternoon was hot and still and I went into a sort of surfing fugue at the ‘pooter instead of doing my chores, so now I’m in the red a bit on my download limit and a lot on my chores. So there won’t be seven posts today.
Sounds like the joys of parenting . . . perhaps grandparenting. 🙂
Joel is doing a great job of reminding me why we no longer have pets in our life.