Monday

The neighborhood decorations are up. 

We went for a walk in Hammock Park this morning without Toby.

 

It was cloudy and 73 degrees. It rained heavily this morning and we lost power for about five hours. 

We walked the causeway with Toby after lunch. 

This house in the neighborhood just underwent a major renovation. 

My Dad would like the nutcracker. Very nicely decorated.

We took Toby to see his doctor this afternoon about the skin rash on his back. We thought it was mange that he picked up from the dog park. 

The doctor didn’t think so, 90% sure. He thinks it’s an allergic reaction to his new harness, made out of neoprene, foam, and nylon.  The irritated area is right where the harness touches his back. He says it’s not serious. He recommended Benadryl and not using the harness and see if it clears up. If not, then he can shave an area and do a skin scraping to analyze. 

The doctor said it looked like hives because of the small lumps. No hair loss or oozing. 

The Benadryl has the added advantage of zonking him out. 

We are relieved. 

Miles walked: 7.5

Miles biked: 0

Sunday

It was 79 degrees today. Late this afternoon we raised the garage door and sat out in our folding chairs with Toby.

I rode to Stevenson Creek mid-afternoon. It's a 10-mile round trip. The Pinellas Trail was busy, but interesting, as always.

We put Toby in his crate this morning and walked the Dunedin Causeway for the first time in a while. We both admitted that walking the causeway with Toby is very different than walking it without him. With him, we have to focus on him and limit the walk to 25 minutes; without him, we can look at the water and birds and walk for an hour or more. The water this morning was really clear. This shot is from the draw bridge.

I got this shot of a bird on the rail of the drawbridge while John kept saying "chirp, chirp, chirp" in my ear. After getting the picture, I shot him a look like, "What the hell?" He said, "I was trying to get him to look so you could get a better shot." I have to admit, it worked. Otherwise, I would have gotten only the back of the bird's head.

 

Today was a much better day. I only had one 45-minute nap and stayed active the rest of the time. We're going to try and spend more time walking and biking and giving Toby more crate time.

Miles walked: 7.4
Miles biked: 10.23

Saturday

We drove Toby to Wall Springs Park this morning for a walk and found this message on the Pinellas Trail that passes by the park: "What are you thankful for?"

It got up to 78 degrees today. 

We went to our local pet store for more dog food and stopped by the community center for a shaded walk.

The city has added some more light displays for the holidays.

Toby got a new donut toy from Publix.

 

We tried out the tricycle with Toby. He's now strong enough to pull me--probably not good for his leash-walking skills.

 

Our neighbors pick up trash from the waterways whenever they go out in their boat. They brought Toby this Frisbee from their latest haul.

 

We took an hour and a half nap this afternoon. We have been so tired lately even though we get a full 8 hours of sleep. Sooner or later, we'll get rested!

We made an appointment for Toby on Monday for the vet to take a look at his skin rash. They work a half day on Saturday, but they were booked up because of the holidays. We think it's mange that he picked up from the dog park. We're bummed about it, but he doesn't seem to be bothered by it. It just looks ugly, and it's spreading. It's always something, isn't it? We gave him another bath with the medicated shampoo this afternoon, but I don't think it's strong enough.

Miles walked: 5
Miles biked: .5

Friday

Toby has a new friend in the neighborhood named Yuki who belongs to a couple of guys in the next block. Yuki is a bichon frise, also a puppy. They played really well together, even though they were both on leashes and different sizes. This was their third time meeting on walks.

 

 

Toby has discovered the paw image at the bottom of his water bowl. He thinks it's something that he can eat apparently. We heard all this noise and splashing and looked to see what was going on. He had completely emptied his bowl and was pawing at the image in the bottom, standing in a pool of water. 

 

We weighed Toby today. He came in at 39 lbs again, the same thing he weighed 9 days ago.

We stayed pretty close to home today, except for a trip to the grocery store.

Miles walked: 4.4
Miles biked: 0

Thursday

It was 80 degrees on Thanksgiving day, so we had our lunch outside and enjoyed watching Toby play in the yard.

He's developed a skin irritation on his neck. We're thinking it might be mange. Luckily, the shampoo the vet gave us for his belly rash also works for mange. We gave him a bath tonight, so we'll see how it goes. Our first vet told us that all dogs have the critters that cause mange, but dogs develop resistance to the critters and the skin allergies and keep everything in balance. (Dee Dee had a severe case and needed medicated dips several times to get them under control.) Puppies have not yet developed resistance. 

It seems that everyone came to Florida for Thanksgiving. The causeway was packed; the Pinellas Trail was packed. We didn't see many of the regulars we usually see on our routine walks. We ended up driving to the end of the causeway instead of walking and headed to Hammock Park to walk Toby.

 

We picked another lime from the backyard to use in our salmon marinade. We added orange juice, olive oil, brown sugar, and Borsari herb blend.

 

A simple and happy Thanksgiving. 

Wednesday

We put Toby in his trailer this morning and headed for the dog beach on Honeymoon Island. We made it about half way when we had our second trailer accident.

Out of the blue, Toby decided to poke his head through the double layered gate at the rear and somehow wiggle through the opening. I felt it happening while John, who was riding behind me, saw the whole thing happening in front of him. Toby came out of the trailer with the left side of his snout and face on the pavement, sliding about two feet before the rest of his body came slithering out.

I immediately put my bike down and made eye contact with Toby who had gotten up on all fours and came running up to me and not into the traffic of the causeway. He had road rash on his lips and dirt in his snout. He bled for a little bit, but there were no missing teeth or serious wounds. 

We aborted our trip to the beach and took him home to clean up his wounds. Amazingly, he hopped back into his trailer without fear or resistance. 

I had placed a leash inside the trailer that was secured to the frame, but I hadn't hooked him up to it for fear that he would get entangled and/or freak out. But, given his escape, we decided it was prudent to leash him up inside (Duh!). We really didn't think he could get out. Live and learn.

A bit rattled, but determined, we will make it to the beach in the trailer soon.

  

The brown spot on his lower lip is camouflaging his bloody lip, but you can easily see his dirty snout.

It started out a beautiful morning bike ride, about 70 degrees.

 

I just took this picture of the Christmas decoration (lighted palm tree); then at the next intersection, Toby decided to birth himself from his trailer that John had already called a uterus.

 

And that was the end of our morning adventure. 

We played fetch in the backyard this afternoon. He's a bit languid in his approach to fetching, never too obsessed, never too much in a hurry, but dependable.

 

 

  

 

 

 

It's a rough and tumble world out there!

Miles walked: 5
Miles biked: 4.82