Like falling down a set of stairs would be a welcome relief. I managed to talk Kilo out of going through with it. A broken bone = vet visit = cast = CONE OF SHAME.
He saw my point.
He saw my point.
Today we got up early and ran to the vet. The stitches are out, the cone of shame off, and life is once more full of wonderful possibilities. Even though it's been raining today, we went to the dog park. I mean, what was going to happen? We'd get even wetter? Apparently, we were the only people desperate to have an exhausted dog today because we had the whole park to ourselves. Kilo spent the first five minutes running and jumping around like a dog who'd just spent the past week imprisoned. Oh, wait. . . So of course we had to try out everything, including the agility equipment:
Then we went to greet the wonderful pond. Where a dog can run and swim and tackle his owner to his heart content. Kilo immediately went down to the waters edge and . . . expressed his bladder . . . then he took a couple big mouthfuls of the algae colored liquid. Yup, that's my dog. Eventually he decided it might be fun to use the water for its intended purpose, but didn't really start swimming until we enticed him with a stick. It figures that he'd choose the yucky stick over the floating toy we bought for him. There's just no accounting for taste.
In the above photograph you may notice that Kilo is actually swimming! What we don't have a picture of is how far he eventually got from shore. Because Kilo is new to swimming we've tried to keep him relatively close to us but still where he could build up some muscle and have fun. My good intentions were thwarted today. By a stick. Yup, a stick. That would be because while trying to retrieve the limb, he knocked it farther away from him and then swam in circles searching for it as it drifted farther off to the right. The whole time he's doggedly searching for his stick, I'm yelling and jumping about trying to get the stupid hound to turn back towards shore. My stolid mother turns her back on us saying, "He's going to drown - I can't watch!" while I try to calculate how deep the water is. I finally convince him that I'm the best option and he starts towards me, only to spot that wretched stick a couple feet away. Well, of course, he has to go after it. What dog wouldn't? I'm standing there trying to decide if I need to wade in to save his exhausted hide while yelling, "Ok, go for the stick! Get the stick! Good boy! Now come on! Good boy, don't drown! You're so stupid! Without me this would be natural selection!" . . . Sigh . . . On the way home we made a detour and bought a life jacket. Kilo will no longer be going anywhere near a large body of water without it on. He's just too stupid for his own good. I'm thinking about not even letting him in the bathtub without it.No adventure with Kilo is complete without a little adrenaline rush and some mild panic. Luckily, he seemed completely unfazed by the experience, if a bit out of breath, and after a much needed bath, fell asleep on his air vent, content at last. Here's some more pictures of the day pre near-drowning:
Kilo is 70 inches long this week, nose-tail
25 of those inches belong to his tail
25 of those inches belong to his tail
OK, so I did say that, but I was seconds away from going in after him and using everyone of the old lifesaving skills I learned long ago. It was just too painful to watch. He was obviously panicking and struggling, I just didn't want to go into that nasty pond too soon only to have him swim casually by me on his way to shore and look over his shoulder as if to say, "what are you doing in here and why are you soooo slow?"
ReplyDeleteGreat story and pictures! Glad he decided not to end it all by sliding down the steps...or drowning himself! That looks like a great park to take him. Good thing you and your mom did not have to take a dip and go in after him. He has grown an enormous amount in the last 5 months!
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