Isaac at the Welfare Office

Today I had to visit my county welfare office, which is not one of my favorite places.  Isaac, however, seems to really like the welfare office.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe it's a combination of the nice cool floors to lie on when it's hot outside and the excellent opportunity for people-watching.

I often have to remind myself that Isaac and I like different things when it comes to places.  For instance, Isaac likes the dumpster behind my apartment building, because it's smelly.  I do not like the dumpster behind my apartment building, because it's smelly.  I like Chipotle, because they have great food.  Isaac does not like Chipotle, because he does not get to eat any of the great food there and they have a hard, uncomfortable floor to lie on (I've started taking a towel with us for him to lie on, which he likes at least a little better).  Even when we both like a place, we often like it for different reasons.  For instance, we both like Lake Erie, but I like it because I like the sound of the waves lapping at the shore and Isaac likes it because there are plenty of dead fish lying around to roll in.

Anyway, I dislike visiting the welfare office because the waiting room has uncomfortable chairs and not enough of them, so I often end up standing for long periods of because I often have to wait a really long time even for something simple, like dropping off some paperwork.  At least the employees at my county office are reasonably nice and polite.  That is not the case at most welfare offices, at least not in my experience.

But Isaac seems to like it.  He sprawls out on the floor, then watches the people through half-closed eyes.  Today there was a little girl who had just turned two (said her mother) that was flirting with Isaac.  Her mom was watching her closely and not letting her get too close and reminding her that "That dog is not for petting," but she would get as close as her mom would let her, bend over so she could look Isaac in the eye (they were eye-to-eye when Isaac stood up, but most of the time he was lying down with his chin flat on the floor), and smile sweetly at him and flutter her eyelashes at him.  Isaac flirted back, watching her with his big eyes, drooling happily on the floor.

Isaac was really good, though, and stayed in a down position, even though I could tell he wanted to play with the little girl.  Before we left, I allowed the two of them to say hello.  She petted him gently and he kissed her gently, first on the hand, then on the cheek, which made her giggle and giggle.

I'm glad at least one of us had a nice time there.

How Much Isaac Loves Me

Isaac likes to follow me everywhere.  He is rarely more than a few inches from me at any given time, except when he's sleeping.  Even then, if he hears me get up and move around, he often gets up and comes to see what I'm doing.  If I get up to pee in the middle of the night, he often jumps out of bed and comes into the bathroom to see me.

The other day, I was in the bathroom and had the door closed.  I don't close the bathroom door very often.  I live alone, plus with my PTSD I kind of like being able to see and hear the rest of my apartment while I'm in the bathroom.  And Isaac prefers doors to be kept open.  As did my cats, in the past.  Cayenne doesn't care anymore, she's not going to follow me into the bathroom anyway.  But Isaac likes to follow me in.  When I shower, he likes to lie in the doorway.  I think it gets too warm in the bathroom for his liking, especially if I close the door with him in there, but he likes to be close by.

But the other day, I did have the door closed.  Unbeknownst to me, Isaac was standing right on the other side of it.  When I opened it, the door hit his toe.  He yelped a little and held up his foot, like it was terribly painful.  He acted like he didn't want to put any weight on it.  I felt terrible, of course.  I sat down on the floor, looked at his foot carefully, couldn't see any injury, and hugged him and kissed him and told him I was sorry.  He got over it.  Soon he was running through the apartment in search of Mr. Pickle.

Later, I had to use the bathroom.  I left the door open, as Isaac prefers.  He came into the bathroom after me, but he looked nervously at the door as he passed it.  Apparently he did not realize that I opened the door and hurt his foot.  He just thought the door bit him or something.

But even though he was nervous about the door, he wanted to be in the bathroom with me enough to walk past the big bad door.  That's love.

By the way, by the next time he followed me into the bathroom, apparently Isaac had forgotten all about the door hurting his toe.  He did not appear nervous at all then.

Ready for the Fourth of July

I made Isaac a special bandana to wear to the nursing home this week, since it is almost the Fourth of July.  Cute, isn't he?

I Love it When People Notice How Well-Behaved Isaac Is

Today at the dollar store, the cashier commented on how well-behaved Isaac is when we stand by the counter to pay.  She mentioned that most animals would be sniffing all the candy that is displayed right at Isaac's nose level and probably trying to eat the candy, as well.  But Isaac just stands there, ignoring it.

Well, he does most of the time.  Occasionally he tries to sneak a sniff, if he thinks I'm not looking.  I tell him "That's not yours" and he leaves it alone.  I love the "that's not yours" command.  It basically means "leave it" but it sound nicer and people often think it's kind of funny, too.

The cashier pointed out that Isaac was standing there with his head turned, like he didn't even want to look at the candy to be tempted by it.  She said she's noticed he often does that.  I hadn't noticed that but sure enough, he was standing like that today.

I really love it when people notice how well-behaved Isaac is.  It's much nicer than being asked "Are you training him?"  He is trained, he's had a lot of training, and it's nice when people recognized that.

Cuddling the Kong