The Duo's Saturday

K is doing her best to settle into her new sedentary role. She can take only very short walks so she's been upset when I leave her behind to exercise or train R. Yesterday afternoon, I took her for a short walkabout on our property before doing some training with R. Unfortunately, she was noisily unhappy with being in the house while R was out with me. She cried piteously, so loudly that I could hear her through our closed windows. I felt horrendous for her, wanting to bury my head in a pillow and cry.

For those of you who are interested, K tore a branch of her deep digital flexor tendon that pulls one of her middle toes downward. That's why it was jutting up at an odd angle prior to surgery. The surgeon reconstructed it using some remaining tendon plus some other connective tissue in the area. The particular type of rupture and location was unique so the surgeon had to improvise. That's why we cannot be certain of long-term outcome.

While she was indoors, R and I did our very first agility training together. This is part of his obsessive-compulsive disorder behavioral training. I've been told that he needs more "hobbies", things for him to obsess about that aren't related to water-drinking. R suggested that he'd like trombone lessons :) 

I decided that more basic obedience training, agility training, plus a series of games that he can play in the house (instead of drinking water) would be more appropriate. I'll be writing more about this program but the bottom line is that an obsessive-compulsive dog cannot be cured of his obsessions but can diversify his obsessions so that he doesn't drink water so much that he gets sick. That's why R and I were doing teeter-totter and weave pole training yesterday afternoon. I'm pleased to report that he didn't drink maniacally yesterday evening - so Day 2 of his training was a success. However, K was extremely displeased with the attention that he was getting and let me know all about it.

This morning, I took the Duo for a very short jaunt in warm sunshine and golden leaves.

They both seemed to think that a fascinating animal had come close to our house last night but my cameras near the house only photographed a rabbit.

After the Duo's short jaunt, we arrived at the moment of truth. I had to take R for some serious exercise so that he could burn off some of his usual supersonic energy. The timing was terrible from the point of view of K's psyche - it was exactly the point in the day when I would usually take K for a mountain bike ride. Fortunately, she accepted our departure with much more serenity than last night, perhaps because I timed her pain medication so that she'd be very sleepy just as R and I departed.

I used my ride with R to work on some of the same basic obedience that I've been focusing on in our official training sessions. Here, he was running ahead of me, and I asked him to "wait". He did!

I'll forever love his lithe body shape, a classic field Lab's conformation. However, it's his champion field Lab brain that has led to his obsessive-compulsive behaviors. He needs a job, or better yet, lots of jobs to keep him happy.

We climbed up high, and I took off R's muzzle for some photos. Yes, the mushrooms are still here - now they're dried out but R still loves them too much to run around off-leash without a muzzle. Fortunately, we saw no one on our ride - R with a muzzle seems to make some people become emotionally unhinged.

He stood atop K's little arch in the bright sunshine. This took tremendous self-control because chipmunks mocked him loudly from down below. Our ground squirrels have entered their tunnels for hibernation but the chipmunks are still gorging themselves.

We visited the vast aspen grove near us to inhale the scent of dry leaves in autumn and revel in the yellow glory.

Then, we headed for home. We traveled on one of my favorite trails on Earth. It's so narrow and ledgy, and I almost never see another soul on it, except bears and deer. We also saw petite and agile red fox today, bounding through the brush with his luxuriously long white-tipped tail prominently bouncing up and down. What a gorgeous creature!

 

K met us at the door but didn't seem as piteously sad as yesterday. She spent the day at my feet, out on our deck. Her best human friend outside our family came to visit her. K snuggled with her friend and let out a contented sigh as she was showered with pats and belly rubs. K's friend stayed for almost an hour, an eternity of bliss in K's world. K knows when it's time to lie back and enjoy the moment.