Wednesday

 

Here's another great picture!

Before lunch we took Toby on a short walk around the neighborhood. He's a funny dog. He likes to sit and lay down on his walks, often without notice. I think he believes he'll get a treat every time he sits. I think he lies in the grass because it's comfortable and he needs to rest. We are looking forward to the arrival of his chariot so that we can take him with us on our bike rides without putting too much stress on his growing bones. He's eating a lot! He eats the same amount of food each day as Dexter did, and Dexter weighed twice as much.

He likes to eat acorns on the walk and there are lots of them. Their shells are hard so he has a tough time cracking them open. We try to distract him with yummy bacon treats. Now he thinks that the more acorns he can put in his mouth, the more bacon treats he gets. It's a fine line between training a dog and the dog training you!

We are placing him in his crate a few times each day and leaving the house, hoping this will give him practice with being alone and learning to calm himself when he's anxious. He has had two episodes of puppy craziness, once one morning when I was with him alone and once at night when he was with John a day or so ago. He gets ramped up and runs all over the house, biting and shaking his toys, and anything else he can get his mouth around--like an arm or leg. The more you try to hold him, the wilder he gets, but left unrestrained he's a danger to himself and us. Hence, the crate training. The trick is to get him focused on something that will slow him down so that you can coax him into the crate because once he's ramped up it's like trying to catch a greased pig.

Our vet gave us this device. It's the size of a salad plate. If you smear peanut butter or wet dog food on this, it will occupy a dog for 20-30 minutes, easily. The bottom has suction cups, so the dog can't run off with it or eat it. All he can do is lick, and with all those crevices, it's a time consuming task.

 

 

This ball came from the foster parent. The opening is the perfect size for a Milk-Bone dog treat, once you squeeze the ball to widen the hole. I put half of the treat in the ball, the other half hanging out. I do the same thing to the other side. Then I get Toby's attention and roll the ball across the floor. It takes 5-10 minutes for him to get the treats out, but usually he'll keep playing with it afterwards. 

Our morning causeway walk began at 8:30 when it was 77 degrees. It's supposed to be 89 degrees again today.

 

It must be prime sailing season because we got stopped at the drawbridge again. Four sailboats passed through together. The wind was blowing between 10 and 12 miles per hour.

 

 

We spent the afternoon waiting for the A/C maintenance person to show up. Therefore, we had lots of time to sit around reading and taking pictures. Toby, look left.

 

 

Toby, look right.

 

Toby, look straight ahead. (Can you tell that we were bored waiting for the A/C maintenance check up?)

 

When Toby gets out of the car, he crawls out like this on his belly. He doesn't like you to pull him out. He likes to do it himself. It takes patience. Once he's out of the crate, he'll let you help him down (without peeing on you, thank goodness).

 

Toby's chariot came late this afternoon. It's a Burley Tail Wagon. Toby helped me to put it together. John got him to go inside with treats.

 

 

It was pretty easy to assemble. We were going to attach it to the electric bike, but the nut on his bike was too tight, and I was afraid I'd mess up the engine, which is in the back wheel. So I attached the hitch to my mechanical bike. It is very light. I didn't even know it was back there on my inaugural ride.

 

 

We used his car crate pad for padding.

 

We tossed treats inside, shoved him in, locked him in, and off we went parading around the neighborhood. He whined a little bit and dug a little bit, but quickly settled down for the ride. John rode behind us, so he could talk to him and give Toby something to look at. We rode around the block and came home and celebrated with treats and hugs. It was already getting dark.

 

He liked it enough to jump back in to get a treat. 

 

Success!

 

We'll investigate the leash attachments in the daylight tomorrow and plan our first excursion (short).

Miles walked: 6.2

Miles biked: 1