Homemade Puzzle Toy

The other day I was setting my all my vitamins (I use one of those weekly pill sorter things) and I emptied a bottle of calcium tablets, so I stuck a couple milk bones in the empty bottle and gave it to Isaac to try to figure out how to get the treats out.  Note: don't do this with medicine bottles unless you've washed them first. 

Isaac spent about half an hour trying to get the treats out, then finally gave up and brought the bottle to me so I could help him.  He had chewed the mouth of the bottle almost shut, which of course made it hard to get the treats to fall out.

I love the fact that he is so easily entertained.

Life is Fragile

This evening I learned that earlier today, a friend of Mike's died in a car accident.  She ran a stop sign and was broadsided by a tractor trailer.  Her seven-year-old daughter was air lifted to a hospital, where she is currently fighting for her life.  Mike said he went out to lunch with this woman, and her daughter, and her husband, two days ago.  It was the couple's 11th wedding anniversary.

I knew the family, though not well.  But it's still overwhelming to think about.  I can only imagine what the woman's husband is going through right now.  Imagine your wife and daughter leaving the house in the morning, healthy and whole, and a couple hours later getting a call that your wife is dead and your daughter may  not survive and you'd better get in your car and drive to the hospital as fast as you can so maybe you can at least see your daughter alive one last time.

And that poor little girl.  If she lives, she's badly injured, she's in the hospital, she'll be in pain, she'll want her mother.  I don't know the details of the accident, I don't know if she was unconscious the whole time or if she was awake and aware that her mother was dead in the car with her, while waiting for help to arrive.  I don't know if her mother died instantly or if this little girl sat trapped in the car, scared and in pain, listening to her mother die.  She's seriously injured, so she may end up having to deal with a long and difficult recovery process, or even a permanent disability, at the same time she's dealing with the loss of her mom.

And her poor father.   Best case scenario, he has to cope with supporting a severely injured, scared, emotionally traumatized little girl while coping with the loss of his wife.  That's if he's lucky.  That's the best case scenario here.  Worst case scenario, after he plans his wife's funeral, he gets to bury his daughter.

We all know life is fragile, right?  We all know any of us, or any of the people we love, could walk out our front door and get run over by a bus today.  We all know that none of us is promised another day.  But wow, when it actually happens, it's such a shock.

Dog Days at the Beach

Saturday I took Isaac to the doggie beach at Alum Creek State Park.  It's a fenced in area, like any dog park, but it's on the lake and the fence extends into the water so that dogs can swim in the lake but are still in a safe, enclosed area.  Isaac loves water (except for in the bath tub) and I was sure he would love the lake.

He did.  Isaac has a routine he follows at dog parks.  First, he sniffs every tree, bush, clump of grass, fence post, etc.  Then he pees on all those things.  He usually spends the first 20 minutes or so sniffing and peeing.  Then he wants to say hello to any people at the dog park.  He likes people more than he likes other dogs.  After he greets the people, then he is ready to greet the other dogs and to run around.  He loves to run, but he always sticks to his routine.  That means unless we stay at the dog park for more than half an hour, he doesn't end up getting to do any running.  It takes him that long to sniff, pee, and greet all the people.

So he did the same thing at the doggie beach.  I couldn't wait to see what happened when he realized there was water and he was actually allowed to get in it.  Isaac, self-entitled dog that he is, just naturally assumed he would be allowed to get in the water.  He didn't hesitate, didn't glance back at me to see if it was OK, or anything like that.  He dove right in, after he'd completed the necessary sniffing, peeing, and greeting rituals.

There was a guy there throwing sticks into the water for his dog to chase and of course Isaac wanted to chase them, too.  Mike was with us and he tried to throw some sticks for Isaac (I could not bend over to pick up sticks due to my back pain) but Isaac ignored those sticks.  He wanted the other dog's sticks.  At one point, he swam up to the other dog and snatched a stick right out of his mouth!  How rude is that?

He had a great time.  He got soaking wet, of course, and smelly and now my car smells like a wet dog.

Running in the Summertime

Today I called Isaac's vet to ask about the safety of running in the summertime when it's really hot.  Not for me, silly.  I don't run!  For Isaac.

See, Isaac's current running buddy is one of those nutty running people that will run in any weather.  Hot, cold, pouring rain, whatever, he's up for a rain.  So is Isaac.  So I'm not sure I can trust either of them to make a good judgment about whether or not it's too hot.  And I don't want my doggie to have a heat stroke.  I don't want my dog walker to have a heat stroke, either.

I tried to look up info online about how hot was too hot to safely run and couldn't find what I was looking for.  Apparently it varies a bit depending upon the breed of the dog (really hairy dogs get overheated faster) and where they're running at (obviously if they run in the shade, it's safer).  So I finally just called the vet and asked.

I was told it was safe for Isaac to go for a run up to 85 degrees.  I was advised to make sure he has plenty of fresh, cold water when he gets back from a run, which of course I always do.  It was also suggested that I hose him down before a run on really hot days.  I'm not sure how Isaac would feel about that, and I don't have access to a hose here anyway, so I won't be trying that.  I thought I'd mention it, though, in case anyone else wants to try it with their dogs.

Back to Bed

This morning Isaac woke me up, wanted his breakfast, and went right back to bed.  My bed, of course.