Laddie was feeling butthurt this morning. He’d had his breakfast and his little walkie around the yard, but now Uncle Joel was suiting up to go away and he didn’t feel like being left alone. He planted himself between me and the door and put on his Oppressed Minority face.
I don’t normally take him with me because … well, frankly, he’s a townie dog I don’t dare leave off the leash and it’s a pain in the ass. On the other hand I do worry about him becoming a fat couch potato old before his time. And I was only planning to go up to the pump house to get the model number of the well pump charge controller. I can stay on the beaten path for that; easy to watch for dog-eating snakes.
So I asked him if he wanted another walkie, which was patently what he wanted (I speak dog) and he launched into his approving little dance. I hitched him up and we took the easy way up to the top of the ridge. He was so clearly having a good time that I decided a curated tour of a milder part of the boonies couldn’t hurt much.
Sorry about the snapshot quality, I didn’t even think about the sun angle at the time.
Anyway, he had fun and it’s something I really need to work into our schedule together. In the next few weeks it shouldn’t be much of a problem: My friends say they have a fenced yard, which is what he was used to for most of his life, and he might end up not wanting to come back home.
When are you leaving? Are you taking your computer? I’m not sure I could survive 3 weeks without Joel and TUAK.
TUAK will continue, probably in the form of ‘foreign dispatches’ as I try to figure out what city people do with themselves all day, not to mention how they survive in this “traffic” thing I’ve heard about. But yeah, the Official TUAK Computer is coming along.
I presume you are driving to the “big city” with TB and not flying there?
Air travel with a critter is becoming near impossible given the craziness that pervades current society. Used to be a dog could travel with you if you were blind and needed a guide or truly need a service animal if in a wheelchair.
Now it is anything goes for nervous snowlflakes and airlines are clamping down on the madness..
I have made a sign for Laddie to wear that reads “Emotional Support Potato.”
But also yeah, we’re driving.
That’s such a shame. You could have surely come up with an “emotional support bull snake”.
Or even better, and “emotional support tarantula hawk”!
‘Oppressed minority face’… cracking me up! As the millennials say LOL.
Given TB’s dislike for anything canine other than himself this is probably predetermined failure, but I wonder if the companionship of a wise “country dog” would (eventually) improve his hazard awareness, or if the naïveté is baked in (either to the breed or this particular dog). Related: Did you mention Laddie’s age at some point and I missed it or is it an unknown?
Laddie’s registered so it’s known to the day, though I’m too lazy to go look at the paper before I’ve had my coffee. He’s about 8 years old. He never had to share his person and stuff with another dog before ML died and he has grown insanely territorial about it. Loves all people, hates all dogs.
“figure out what city people do with themselves”
If I were you, I’d decide that they start every day with a long, hot, luxurious shower. What a treat that would be.