Wednesday, December 24, 2008

I'll be healthy for Christmas.. if only in my dreams.

Apparently, holidays are not my friend this year. After one of those can't-seem-to-breathe colds over Thanksgiving, I am now overtaken with a sore-throat-can't-talk cold for Christmas. Which Buddy seems to take full advantage of as it takes all my energy to say "NO" in a voice louder than a whisper.

He's a little escape artist. We took him to the dog park on Saturday where he was a little bit like a 10 year old stealing a 5 year old's lunch money. Only he's scared of retaliation, so I guess he's more like the bully's friend, egging him on. Several of the other dogs enjoyed chasing frisbees. Buddy would then chase the dog that caught the frisbee and attempt to steal it out of his mouth. This game caught on and by the time we left the park, 5 out of 5 frisbees were split in half. At first Buddy only went after the dogs that were his size or small. By the end, he was going after dogs two and three times his size (seriously, three times. A ginormous gray mastiff I believe). He also liked starting fights, so long as the dog was smaller and he was winning. He'd go bark in their faces until they finally started rolling on the ground with him. But if a second dog got involved, Buddy let them roll around and just barked up a storm to keep them going. Again, the bully's best friend.

We left after about an hour and a half of this. I dropped Josh off to get his car and brought Buddy home. We pulled in the garage, and I left the garage door open so I could get the mail after I put Buddy inside. For some reason unknown to me, the garage door was locked, so I had to hold on to Buddy while I got out my keys to unlock it. I hear this scuffling sound, turn around, and see Buddy just as he initiates the final wiggle to get out of his leash. And in about .5 seconds, he is gone. I dropped my purse and keys and ran after him. He had only gotten as far as the neighbors when I scooped him up and brought him back to the garage. He's a little bulky (chunky, if you ask Josh) and I was struggling to hold on to him. I reached up with one arm to close the garage door so I could put him down and unlock the door into the house, and wouldn't you know - he yelped in my face, jumped out of my arms, and slid under the garage door right as it was about to close. I hurriedly opened the door to the house, turned off the alarm, and ran outside to find him. I estimate this took 45 seconds. I looked left and right, but he was nowhere to be found. So I started calling his name. And out from the neighbor's backyard he trots, like this is an everday occurence. I started towards him, and he took off. Up and down neighbor's doorsteps. I cornered him right as Josh got home. Josh walked up as I was telling Buddy never to do that again. Josh said I was overreacting. I glared.

The next day, we put Buddy in the crate before church, only to come home to find him chewing up various items in our bedroom and bathroom. My previously gnawed scarf and gloves are now mere threads of their former selves. Josh yells. I smile. Karma's fast.

Work started on Monday. Buddy was in his crate for ~10 hours by his lonesome. No messes in the crate, and no more escapes. When we got home, he bolted out and slid all over the hardwood for about 10 minutes. And even after 10 hours of holding his bladder, he still wouldn't go out without one of us going with him. Silly dog.

He's been laying here next to me while I wrote this, but he is now bored and nudging me with his toy.

Merry Christmas!

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