Josiah successfully completed his dog walking week for the neighbors and was happy for the cash it provided. However, once it was over he was glad that he could once again sleep late in the morning. Of course, once you prove yourself a reliable worker, work has a way of finding you out. So, he was offered 2 weeks of dog walking duties. The first time he accepted the job, he thought only of the money and not of the impact on his sleeping in summer schedule. He now understands the sacrifices of work. If he takes the job, his sleeping in is over. The job ends when school starts. I gave him a night to consider his decision. We talked about being a reliable worker to insure future employment and saving up money to buy a car when he gets his license in a few years versus the joy of having nothing to do. Now, I know there are those of you who don’t enjoy being bored, hanging out with no where to go, no errands to run, no one to see, and nothing to do. As for me, I love it. The first time Gabe declared himself bored this summer, I cheered. That’s what summer is for, to be bored. Read a book, look at the fish, watch the birds, play fetch with the dog, pet the cat: there are plenty of things to do around here. This morning, Josiah groaned as he got out of bed, but get out of bed he did. When there’s money to be made, no sleeping in for him.
Blaze is a very quiet dog. When left to himself he rarely makes a noise. He will whine at me when he needs to go outside or when he is trying to convince me that he should eat earlier. He has yet to learn, as the other family members know so well, that I’ll get around to making dinner eventually, but don’t expect it to be soon. When I visited the breeder, I was amazed at how quiet her dogs were. A kennel of quiet dogs is a bit odd. I was thrilled that Blaze carried on the genetics. However, we have discovered throughout the last month that there is one individual who greatly enjoys pestering him into barking. When Blaze can’t be watched, he is in his crate, to prevent sock swallowing. Patches has the run of the house and she makes him aware of it every day. Sometimes she’ll sit right next to his crate and look at him, sometimes she’ll turn her back as if he doesn’t exist, but what she loves most is to partially hide inside or under something as if she is stalking him. It drives him nuts and I will hear him make a high pitched whiny bark. I am often sending the kids to catch and relocate her, but she always comes back to play her favorite game. When I take him outside into the back yard to play fetch, she waits patiently at the sliding glass door. I often go in and leave him outside a little longer, but he doesn’t like to be alone so he will soon be on the top step looking in the door. Patches loves this moment and will touch her paw to the glass. Blaze, who moments prior had been patiently waiting, then goes nuts jumping on the door. She’s a piece of work.
Josiah is watching the neighbor’s dog this week, so we attempted to go together on a walk. Blaze was so nuts trying to get the other dog to play, that I thought it would be best to have them run around the backyard a bit. Josiah forgot to shut the back gate, so they decided to run around the neighborhood instead. Thankfully, no cars were driving by, Josiah was able to catch Blaze, and the neighbor dog just ran home. As I ran out after the dogs, a feeling of familiarity overtook me. The feeling of familiarity ended as soon as we caught the dogs, however, for Czar and Sasha would have been long gone and I would have gotten in the car to continue the pursuit. We tried to get the dogs playing in the back yard again, gate closed this time when suddenly we heard this terrified yelp. Blaze came dashing for us with his tail between his legs. The neighbor’s dog did not want to play. So, Blaze is far down the pack order. Well behind the cat and the neighbor dog.
Patches and Blaze at Door
Blaze
Patches Stretching
Blaze Walking the Dog
Blaze’s current favorite game is “fetch the rope-run away-pass by-let you grab the rope-tug of war.” Josiah was out playing this game with Blaze when Josiah decided to liven it up with one of Dale’s favorite tricks. Josiah pretended to throw the rope and then hid it behind his back. Blaze initially took off, then stopped when he couldn’t see the rope. Josiah continued to tell Blaze to get it. Blaze put his nose to the ground, sniffed, walked behind Josiah and sat down. I laughed. He’s a clever dog when he wants to be.
My sister and her family arrived today. Although I was behind schedule as usual, they had traffic delays from a flooded Interstate and an accident. So, I thought I would pull it off and have dinner on the table the minute they walked in the door. Really, this goal is impossible for all save my Mother, who greets you with an apron on and a hot meal ready. The lasagna was in the oven and I was upstairs putting clean sheets on the bed when Abby came running in the room. “Blaze ate Zeke’s sock!”, she proclaimed. I immediately googled “dog ate sock” and discovered it is not a rare occurrence. Experience said wait it out or give the dog hydrogen peroxide to cause vomiting. Off I dashed to the pharmacy (chemist). (I haven’t done that in a while and quite miss it.) There is a pharmacy near me where everyone is unhelpful. I usually drive to the one farther away, but I was in a hurry. As usual, everyone was unhelpful and it took me quite awhile to find hydrogen peroxide. While I was wandering the aisles of the pharmacy, my sister and her family arrived at my house. Gabe held open the door, Abby and Josiah stood quietly, and Zeke was asleep. Without their obnoxious Mother to run outside and yell welcome, they were at a loss as to what to do. They had made the welcome sign, at least. Initial greetings have not been very positive in my family lately. Upon my brother Howie’s arrival at my brother Rob’s house last week, Rob told me he couldn’t talk on the phone. He had to deal with a car seat covered in vomit. Anyway, I returned home and greeted my guests, but was soon outside with Blaze giving him a dose. Meanwhile, Marie and Rich had to serve the dinner and get themselves settled in their rooms. I was now on sock watch, but Blaze was not cooperating. He did not vomit. So, I gave him another dose. Still, he did not vomit. Instead, he ran around like a nut. For fear of poisoning my dog, I stopped. So, now I wait and I watch to see which way the sock will come out. My husky Czar ate all kind of things and I never worried about him becoming ill. When he was sick, I would tell him, “It’s your fault for eating that.” He got no sympathy. Czar was not crated. Instead, he was given the guest room to destroy. One day, I arrived home to discover him laying on top of the mattress with stuffing covering the room. The room appeared covered in snow. Czar looked up at me with a mouth full of stuffing. He looked like Santa Claus. If I wasn’t so mad, I would have laughed. Czar also pulled out the dresser drawers and ate the rollers off the tracks. He pulled the screens out of the windows and chewed them to bits. He ate the cord of an alarm clock. Never did I rush out and try to get something to help him. “Serves you right for eating that.”, I’d say. But with Blaze, here I am up at O dark thirty, worrying. Somewhere along the way, I’ve gotten soft.
One of Zeke’s favorite shows to watch is Fetch with Ruff Ruffman. It’s a cartoon dog talking to real kids. The kids learn things through competitions and at the end of the show, someone wins a prize. Zeke calls it Ruff Roman for reasons known only to him. My favorite show, however, is Fetch with Blaze Manry. I get to experience it live action every morning. Blaze takes the retriever part of his name very seriously. He fetches balls, ropes, sticks, dead birds, toys, crayons, and laundry items. One of his favorite retrieving activities occurs whenever he comes in from outside. He will dash over to the drying rack in the sunroom, grab a pair of my underwear, and bring them to me.
