The Yin and Yang of Dog……..

Oh, it's been too long!  My fingers are rusty and wondering where the last 7 months have gone.  It's been a flurry or I should say furry!

Oldest kid is on sabbatical from Alaskan Pacific University and driving around the lower 48.  She brought her trusty side kick, Lizzy.   They landed in the driveway a couple weeks ago and this small house became home base.  

More dinners, more hikes, more fires and more fun.  Then the reality of another dog, a chocolate brown dog, the exact color of my espresso paper floor and dark rugs, a dog who enjoys being in the kitchen at all times, and a sighted dog too.  Lizzy is the exact opposite of Kirby in every way.  Here is an up date on living with two very different dogs.

Kirby is almost like having a stuffed dog, except he eats and poops….. a lot!  He holds the floor down, isn’t very interested in kitchen stuff, unless I open a can sardines or fry a bit of bacon, then he magically appears from thin air, very stealth. You can set your watch by his eating habits;  6:30 am, short walk, check on the chickens, in the back door and eat breakfast immediately.  Lick bowl clean and retire to the landing or studio until lunch, exactly 1:30 pm.  Eat, walk around the backyard, and back to napping.

  He wakes up at 3 pm for our coffee break, a cookie, an outside toot, check on chickens again. Returning to the studio and naps until 6 pm …… I have found him standing with his head against the studio door if I’m running late washing down the tables and wheel, covering pots; he has a schedule!  Eats dinner, hangs out at the kitchen table and heads to the upstairs landing until 10 pm.  Pre-bedtime walk, quickly, a cookie and back to sleep.  The next day it begins again.  Don’t move the furniture and don’t change the schedule.  He is like clockwork!  I depend on him to let me know what time it is and its been like this the last seven years.  We are comfortable.  He has entered the Koala years and sleeps 22 hours a day.  

Enter Lizzy on November 22, just before Thanksgiving.  Lizzy is 10 years old, a sighted, engaged, real dog with toys and leashes and special dog food and many beds and needs.  She is stubborn and not happy that our little half acre is not the free range mountains of Alaska.  I am having flash backs to me as a young pup with my dogs visiting my Mom and Dad and now I “get it”.   We are still adjusting to occasional doggie rectum rockets, in the house.  This is shocking because Kirby has never ever in the 7 years he has been here had one accident in the house.  He eats everything, his gut must be made out of kryptonite.  Lizzy not so much….. and no popcorn, EVER!   Lesson learned on that mistake.  Kirby ate half the bowl with nutritional yeast and thought it was great!  Slept like a baby.  Lizzy got the hot zoomies! It was a sight to behold, actually a sound to behold.  She zoomed out the back door into the darkness, no leash.  Panic!!! Grabbed the flashlight and found her in the middle of perennial beds butt trumpeting.  She looked relived and the carpets were saved this time!  Not so much last night or a couple weeks ago.  

Lizzy is dark chocolate, like 70% cacao.  I can’t see her, she is the same color as the floor.  I made meatloaf a couple weeks ago.  The best meatloaf ever!  Put a slice on a dish and took it to Butch, standing by the wood stove in the kitchen.  I came around the corner and went down face first, meatloaf flying, plate flying.  I can recall Butch’s face as I was headed down, his first words:  I was here this time and your head was a half inch from hitting the stone hearth, you are so lucky.  I belly flopped hard, my shoulder and knees are still bruised but healing. While bouncing off the stone floor I felt 4 paws running over me and leaving skid marks on the back of my head while Lizzy dove for the meatloaf and plate.  I couldn’t even find crumbs to wipe up and thankfully the plate didn’t break. We are working on Lizzy laying on a white rug in the kitchen area or a light up color.   I can see her and she can see everything, like flying meatloaf.  

Rachael is off to a conference in Canada for a week and I am here with two Yin and Yang dogs.  Kirby loves the leash as it gives him security.  If I unclip his leash on walk, he stands frozen in place; I am his eyes. Getting the leashes out for a walk and Lizzy looks like I’m going to beat her.  Head down, tail down, dejected, not happy but will tolerate it as she wants to go out.  We get to the sidewalk and Kirby is pulling and excited and Lizzy puts the brakes on.  Kirby is new to this as we walk pretty fast and we’re just not going fast enough so in blind dog frustration he spins and can moonwalk right out of his collar.  Lizzy is not phased and stubbornly digs in.   I run for untethered Kirby on the tree lawn and now Lizzy is gleefully sprinting away.  Free at last, free at last!!  Two days of that and decided it was time for the dog park! 

Kirby figured out pretty quick he was safe and happy to be off the leash. 

Lizzy:  “What fresh Hell is this?”

Kirby met 3 feral children and everybody had so much fun!  Except Lizzy who seemed to know these were “those cousins” that show up at Christmas once a year.  

I don’t know Kirby’s history but he must have been around kids, feral kids.  He heard them and got kind of excited; tail wagging, engaged.  The kids asked if he was friendly, yup.  Explained he was blind so he couldn’t see them.  They were unphased and adjusted.  No ball throwing but lots of pets and yelling.  If he ran toward the building they all ran in front of the building to stop him from banging his head.  It was 42 degrees with a stiff wind and these kids had no coats and didn’t seem to mind the cold.  I asked them where their dog was, and what were they doing in the dog park?  Bobby Ray explained; our dog Sam is a biter so he has to stay over there in the vicious dog area.  I didn’t even know there was a vicious dog area.  Sure enough there was their Mom with a white boxer sort of dog who was charging the fence, teeth barred.  YIKES!  

We ended our dog park visit, Lizzy seemed relived.  Kirby wants to know when were going back. 

First week here Rachael wanted to rearrange the furniture and put the sofa in the back room in front of the TV.  You cannot move furniture when you have a blind dog.  But the porch is working just fine :) 

Hello……it’s me

I was wondering if after all these years you’d like to meet

Hello…… can you hear me?

(Apologies to Adele)