We will never know if it is today or even a different month. Part of the mystery of sharing your life with a Rescue Dog is having to figure things out on your own terms. Both of your terms. As far as it goes, this day mystery is a minor and forgettable one. It is today because I say it is. Maybe next year it will be a different one.
We have gone through a number of scares.
You were a terrified dog when we got you. Your first walk was across the street on your belly to meet up with the neighbors. I think you realized that we weren't going to allow you to fail, we simply had no other option.
With a fearful dog, you plan every activity and make sure that there will be success at the end of it. These neighbors were perfect for that. Lisa was the older lady who treated everyone with kindness, Bill her son did not fall far from that same bottle brush tree. The tree is there, Lisa is gone, Bill moved on.
You are now one of the longest residents of this town. People don't tend to stay long in South Florida. I've been here myself two weeks shy of 20 years which is longer than I have lived anywhere else.
The thing about having a herding dog is that you have to keep their bodies and their minds active. I mean, Truly Active, in capital letters. You can do that as long as you give them long walks, I give you upwards of 6 miles a day. 10K may sound like a lot but it isn't really, especially spread across four walks.
Luckily for you, I am an endurance athlete. It is keeping us both alive.
Truly Active means you have to be able to find New Things. Greeting New People is a major plus, and in a Resort Town near a shopping area is a plus as well.
You have never been a Morning Person. Too bad, I am. When you live in a hot climate, you have to be. There really isn't a winter, it never freezes here. We get you out before 10 and after 5 daily because you're wearing a black fur coat.
That works well with my own schedule. Just not yours. We notice that you eat your food faster at lunch and dinner than you do before dawn. It can't be helped. I just have not figured out why you have to pick mouthfuls of food and pick it all back up after standing on it at 5:30AM. You don't do that any other time of day. That meal can take as long as 45 minutes and you are slowing me down from my own routine.
Bizarre.
You don't like being home alone. Most dogs don't. I have not figured out how you know when I am coming home after a workout, but you seem to have. There you are standing at the door, smiling and wagging and waiting for the routine to begin.
It is all about The Process with a McNab. I walk in the door, you greet me, and immediately after, you go to the back door and ring a bell to be let out. It is The Process that is important. Coming home means Greet, Bell, Sniff the Air Out Back. Lunch is Eat Quickly, Get Ball of Cookies, Ring Bell, Go Out Back.
If you could figure out how to open the sliding door it would be easier. I guess that's not happening, sliding doors need thumbs and that is a lot of heavy Hurricane Glass to get past.
It isn't really separation anxiety although science has proven that dogs do have that. You are only alone for about 5 hours a week plus whatever time it takes to run to the market.
You taught yourself how to ring that bell at the back door. There is a string of Elephant Bells that I got for my sister's wedding. You get your snoot in the string and give it a too gentle shake. We know you enjoy that because it's like that dog talking buttons, it makes you smile. You ring that about every hour in the morning, less at other times of the day.
Going for a walk is more strangeness. "Go get your leash". You'll walk to the door then immediately back to me. "Where is your leash". Back to the door. It's like playing tennis. SERVE!
We get the leash and loop it over your head. You taught yourself to put your foot through the loop on the side strap that snaps under your belly. You use that trick assertively. As the foot waves in the air until you realize we noticed, which can be as many times as you need to get your point across. A couple dozen times when you are excited is reasonable even if it does look strange.
You don't bark aimlessly at a leaf falling in the yard like many, you have a purpose. If I am sitting here, I tell you that I know about it, you quiet down. But not completely. Deliveries become a Discussion.
"Yes, I know there's someone here, they're bringing us things".
"GRUMBLEGRUMBLE!"
"I know, they're here, calm down."
"Grumble. Grumble?"
A dog that has learned how to process inflection. I wish that the talking buttons had been a thing when we got you, but that was a different time.
"Moan" as you sit down. I swear you are learning the art of friendly discourse even if the hardware in your body won't allow for it.
You are older, you did not get deaf, you are the poster child for selective hearing. Deliveries sometimes miss you, other times you are startled into action by someone dropping a box at the door which will mean you'll complain about the intruder long after they've left the premises.
You have been bitten, had and survived cancer, and walked thousands of miles each year. Your first year meant that you never had a problem with the Vet as it is comforting to you.
I think you made it this far because I have a tailored diet to get past food allergies and pancreatitis bouts that put you in the shelter in the first place. I think we may have gone through Pancreatitis yearly. I don't want to think about what hell you went through in your first year, there are still echoes of it in your personality, but I will say that the food issues probably put you there. A piece of chicken the size of a thumbnail will turn you into a soft serve dispenser. It's just easier to make your food from a proscribed recipe that is carved in stone.
As you got older, I did have to adjust that diet using spreadsheet to reduce the protein you take in. You are due for another visit to the vet for a blood test to see if everything is working.
With all the strangeness and weird quirks I'd do it all over again. At 14 years old you are closer to the end than the beginning. Dogs only very rarely make it much past this to 20 years. The breed is not well known, but the McNab breeders seem to think that 16 years is reasonable with expert care.
I'm doing my best to be that expert carer you bizarre and weird dog. I'd do it all over again.
❤️ A beautiful dog. I hope he is spared for a long time yet. Em.
ReplyDeleteHe has been a good friend and I would do it all over again. Crazy little furball still has quite a lot left in him!
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