Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Day 1 at Dog Tired
My first day at the shop in Kari's absence went fine. The staff know what they're doing and were helpful in explaining things to me through the day; my job is just to be a flunky and a buffer if something goes wrong. Except for some of the large contingent of yellow Labs that I'm still trying to sort out, I was able to call by name all of the 40 or so dogs by early afternoon. It definitely helped to reduce my blood pressure a little, I think. I'd only slept a couple of hours the night before, so was feeling tired - ran errands on the way home, greeted Hunter, fed us both dinner, thought about the hours of stuff I needed to do at home...and crashed on the couch. Today is Hunter's regular day to go, and I'll take him but am skeptical as to how that will work out. At times he can be a bit of a hooligan at daycare when he decides that Kari is too important to him to be shared with others. Last week he parked himself under her barstool in the play area and growled at anyone who approached. (and of course he got busted for that) If that happens with me and it becomes problematic, he'll either get timed out or he'll get sent home - pretty bad when the principal's kid is the one to get expelled from school. On the other hand, he may not regard me as valuable at all and my ego may take a(nother) beating!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
You overlook the probability that he values you even more highly than he does Kari, but that he also knows that when you draw the line in the sand, it's a line he'd better not cross. That's my bet, and I'm going to Disney World!
Don't feel bad. I can't take Bodhi to the park for that exact same reason. She growls when other dogs approach the mama. Todd, however, has no problems with her there.
I'm glad to see your blood pressure returning to normal with a good working environment.
Well, bless his heart, he didn't last but an hour. He was so confused and distressed by the change in routine and I think there were some other factors going on that impacted it too. At any rate, he was decompensating before my eyes so I took him home. I felt terrible. In little exposures we can learn to make it work for both of us to be present, but this is the largest backward step I have seen him take in a long while and I really misjudged his readiness to handle that new challenge. I didn't think it would go great, but I didn't think it would be a disaster. Bless his little heart. I haven't decided whether he'll go back tomorrow for a little while or whether to let it ride for a bit before we try again. It might be actually better for him if we waited until Kari's return and had our next experiment be with both of us present in case that helps him figure things out.
just ship him over to PA for the summer.
I know I've said it, but it bears repeating, I miss my Hunter.
But I also miss my Mulligan.
In fact, I just miss the whole four legged companion thing in general, it just so happens that I know the two coolest ones in the world.
Post a Comment