Saturday, January 29, 2011

Day 348- The Inexhaustable Dog

Yesterday, in an attempt to actually get *something* done at the computer, I took Bear the dog for a walk.

Ok, so he took *me* for a walk, but close enough. We walked aaallll the way to the local greenway. Then we walked another mile or so. He started dragging his feet (and, you know, shivering in terror at the small barking dogs behind their fences...) and looking tired, thirsty, and sad about a mile and a half into this walk. So I turned him around (he didn't want to...) and made him walk back home.

Back past the big scary strange barking dogs (in their own yards), past the smelly posts and clumps of grass, and small piles of poo. Across a couple streets, down the path, and back to where we got on the greenway.

At which point I was pretty sure I was going to have to pick him up and carry him. The crazy, lunatic, lunging, leaping monster (who leaps and grabs at my arms like those police dog training videos, only without the teeth...) was a slow moving doggie of goo. His feets were dragging. He was staying even with me. He wasn't trying to drag me off the sidewalk to meet cars. Two and a half miles into a three mile walk he *finally* was too tired to misbehave.

er... mostly.

He still tried to dart randomly into the middle of the street a couple times. Next time I dog sit I'm totally bringing biljac. He behaves *a little* bit better when I have a food bribe.

Anyway, exhausted dog and I get back to the house. My legs were twitching. I am (right now) sore from head to toe. Walking Bear is a full body workout- hands and arms trying to keep him under control, back from trying to keep my balance when he tries to drag me off the trail, legs from both walking and bracing against his off-trail antics. Bear, of course, drinks a bit of water, takes his (20 minute) afternoon nap, and then wants to play "catch the squeeky bone".

So basically, my mission failed. Totally. Completely. *And* I got a squeeky rubber bone thrown at me, besides. As soon as my arms recover enough to try walking him again, I'll pack up a bag with some water and clip him to a halti instead of a harness (not that I think it'll work, but maybe?...). So next month sometime?

Oh, Mom left me (most of) a pan of baked ziti. She and the SD ate maybe 1/4 of it for dinner Thursday night. I ate the rest in about two meals. Today I have to cook.

Also, today I have a dog project that *should* get me some dog-free time. I'm going to de-ook his ooky ear. That's always good for at least 2 hours of him avoiding me totally. If I get desparate I'll just carry the bottle of ear cleaning solution around with me. It *might* work...

2 comments:

  1. Ha ha! If I didn't already know Bear was a Golden, I'd know from this post. Drags you all over creation and has gunky ears? Yep, that there's a Retriever.

    I don't know about the Halti, but we had something called a Gentle Leader that worked on the same principle and it was fantastic. The dog stopped pulling immediately.

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  2. I forgot the bit where he tried to drag me into the marsh. Normally I have no problem with dogs going swimming. I just don't want to have to chase him down to get him back, or clean the pluff mud off us both when I do.

    I'm not totally sure the headgear will work on him. There have been a couple it didn't work for. Just too forking stubborn. Silly goldens.

    He's flopped on the floor by my feet right now, making these heaving sighs and staring at me with a very abused look on his face. Like that ever works....

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