Wednesday

After exercising at the gym after lunch, I rode my bike down the Pinellas Trail to Stevenson Creek. It was a perfect day weather-wise: 81 degrees with an 8 mph breeze.

From the Stevenson Creek Pinellas Trail bridge, I noticed the construction crane for the new condos along Edgewater Drive.

So I rode closer to get a better look at the progress. The columns are now 10 feet tall and growing. This building in the foreground is not part of the development. I wonder what will become of this valuable piece of property. Currently, it's abandoned.

I rode back to Dunedin via Edgewater Park and enjoyed the view.

On one of our Toby walks in the neighborhood, we came to the house where the man lives that loves Toby. He's 89 years old, and he always drops what he's doing (very dramatically) whenever he sees Toby and comes to pet him and talk to us. Today, he was mowing the grass, on a hill. He saw Toby and let go, the mower motor stopped, but the mower kept rolling down the hill a few feet and stopped. The man came down to pet Toby, but Toby got the zoomies. I held on tight to keep him from colliding with the man. He was so determined to pet him that he got down in the grass and sat. Fortunately, Toby understood and sat frog legged beside him in the grass while we talked. I wish I had a picture of the two side by side. As we walked away, he turned his body upside-down to get on all fours so that he could stand up and get back to his mowing.

This selfie was from our morning causeway walk, obviously.

After our walk and before lunch, we went to K9 Adventures to take a tour of the facilities, since we had the time and Toby was already in his crate at home. We had driven to the causeway because the temps were in the lower 60s at 9:00, and that's really cold on a bike.

I would have taken pictures of the interior, but honestly, there wasn't much to photograph, and I would have felt weird taking pictures of other people's dogs. The rooms were completely empty except for the dogs. They had a puppy room, large dog room, and small dog room. Toby normally goes in the puppy room because we told them of his experience in the dog parks where dogs would sometimes gang up on him. There are small rooms (4 x 4) that they use to feed the dogs separately; these are the same rooms used for boarding dogs overnight, a service that we might take advantage of if we every get around to hosting a get together at our house. There is an elevated bed in the corner. There are a few rooms for senior dogs and dogs with issues. The outdoor space uses synthetic grass, and they have sailcloths for shade.

The dogs were just walking around in the room we peered into. A couple were wrestling in the corner, but it basically resembled the early evening of a frat party. Everyone was checking each other out and mingling as if they were in a hurry to meet someone new. Not a lot of small talk here, though. Just a nose to the privates and move on.

I asked her how many humans were in the room, and she said typically just one. I asked what they did. She said we try to get the dogs excited to play with one another. She added, we never have to get Toby started; he's always ready to play. They pay attention if a dog is acting unusual and investigate. They clean up accidents, and remove a dog for the time-out room if they get over stimulated. She said it was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. I asked how they kept up with who's who since they take the dogs' collars and harnesses off. She said that they know each dog by sight and who they belong to and all their likes and dislikes. I have noticed they know each dog by name, and not only that, they know who the best friend of the dog is, if the dog is a regular.

After we left, I asked John if it was what he expected it to be. He said it was nicer than he thought it would be. The rooms were colorfully painted, and it was very clean. I expected the rooms to be larger and for there to be something in them, like some furniture, but I can see why they are bare: nothing to run into, nothing to soil or chew. It was sort of funny seeing these tall rooms with these short dogs taking up the floor space.

I'm really glad we are making this opportunity available for Toby. It's good for a dog to just be with other dogs and be a dog. Until we had this experience, I had never considered that our dog might need something other than us. 

Today’s bike route to Weaver Park, Stevenson Creek, and Publix

Miles walked: 9.5

Miles biked: 12.41