Dog days of summer

Saturday I got up after staying up way too late the night before and went to Neurosoma. Not nearly as painful as last week, I didn’t have her work on the foot as aggressively. I went to the post office and dropped off the paper recycling on the way back home. Jill was finishing straightening up, and I had some quick breakfast. We drove over to Seven Corners to meet Janette, one of the CHAMMP volunteers at 1. Lezlie wasn’t supposed to be there as she had an appointment in Maryland at 2, but she was running late and brought Illa out for us. Janette soon arrived, and we followed her to another volunteer’s house in Falls Church where we picked up a crate, and I met his huge Malamute. Getting Illa in the car was getting to be a trick, and Janette showed us we should open both doors, and pull Illa into the car. We stopped in South Lakes at the Pet Valu store there to pick up some Eagle Pack dog food (Lezlie said they need food where meat is the first two ingredients to keep healthy) and look at the ducks on Lake Thoreau before heading home.

Illa was pretty excited, but calmed down after Jill took him on a long walk. I heated up some ribs I’d cooked earlier in the week for me, and heated up Jill’s leftover pizza for her, then she took the rest of the ribs to work. I took Illa for a walk, then read the paper. I thought I’d watch the Brian Wilson DVD, but Illa thought otherwise, as he started barking. I think it was the HDTV, as when I was watching non-HD stuff he didn’t mind. I just switched off the video, and he settled down. I was worn out from lack of sleep and the long day, and went to sleep shortly after midnight.

The next morning Illa was whimpering and howling around 8:30. The plan was Jill would come home and take him out of the crate and walk him. She called and said she was just leaving at 8:45, so I got dressed and walked him. We were just getting in when Jill got home, and Illa got all excited again, and Jill took him for another walk while I showered. She went to bed and I made some breakfast and gave Illa his food. I started reading the paper and watching “Batman Beyond:Return Of The Joker”. I hadn’t seen that show before, and that had a nice tie in to the older Batman animated series. Around 11 Illa wanted to go out again, so I started recording that and we went out. Most of our walks are on the perimeter of our subdivision, mostly to the back as that’s where the woods are. On this particular jaunt we went around the edge of the woods and were coming back up Herndon Parkway when a small grey dog (some kind of wiry terrier) on the other side of the parkway saw us. He headed straight over and they sniffed. Illa wasn’t aggressive, but I still didn’t want any incident. I grabbed the little dog’s collar, and he had some kind of device, but no tag. I took Illa home, and the little dog followed us. I was trying to get Illa inside, and the little on slipped in too. I quickly got the liitle one outside in the back on a lead, and got some water for him, then called animal control.

The little dog started whining (but no barking) immediately, but I was worried about keeping him with Illa, so I ignored him. Phil, my neighbor, came home about a half hour later and I heard him outside. I went out to find him untangling the lead as the little dog had gotten himself all wrapped around the Japanese maple. Phil (who used to have a Jack Russell), volunteered to keep the dog at his house until animal control arrived. They didn’t show up for another hour. Officer Lewis was very nice and understanding, said it was the third one that he’d had to pick up that day that was obviously a house pet but had no tags. He also said the device on the dog’s collar gave him a shock if he tried to bark, so that’s why he hadn’t been barking.

Illa was pretty excited about the whole situation, and I had to give him another long walk. I had been wearing my cast pretty constantly since the injury, but after the first walk it was obvious I couldn’t keep using it, so I switched to sneakers. At first it was still pretty painful (especially around the ball of the foot), but it’s starting to feel almost normal – I haven’t worn the cast since Saturday, and may not again. Well, my ankle aches some and my toe is pinging right now.

Illa still had energy, so I took Lezlie’s advice about what must be the finest thing every made: the Kong Ball. I put some peanut butter inside, gave it to Illa, and that was the last I heard from him for almost two hours. By then it was 4:30 and Jill was planning on getting up at 3, so we went up to check. She hadn’t gotten to sleep until nearly 11, but reluctantly got up. We needed to go to Petsmart to get Illa some more toys. He was not happy about going in the car, but we finally got him in. However, he wasn’t much help at picking out toys – too distracted by other dogs. We got a squeaky ball, a plush squirrel that squeaks, and a pull rope. He came back and Jill walked him again while I made chicken fajitas (really heated up – nice Safeway frozen bag). I started watching a Brian Wilson documentary and Jill watched the end of it with me. Pretty good, I liked how they got George Martin to comment on the Beatles’ view of him. We watched a Simpsons we hadn’t seen, then turned off the TV as I was recording “Eternal Sunshine” to watch later (I also recorded “Collateral” and “Empire Records”, after I watch those it’ll be the most HBO I’ve watched in months). We read for a while, then Jill took Illa on a walk and tried to get him to go in his crate. He did not want to, and it was mostly pushing and pulling to get him in.

Jill got up first this morning, walked him then put him back in the crate with no problem. I had no such luck, it took a Kong loaded with peanut butter to entice him in. Hopefully he’ll get used to it soon, but I ordered a DVD on crating from petsmart.com (along with a hands-free leash – both of our wrists are aching after the number of walks we’ve done). She walked him again before I got home, then I did the final, rainy one tonight. Still not happy with the crate, but he went in ok.

Pictures up here.