The End of Thanksgiving

Three days after Thanksgiving. We decided to have a Cobb Salad with the remains of the turkey (breast) carcass. I volunteered to cut the last of the bits of turkey off the bones. The breast was covered in foil on the counter in front of me. The cats were standing by for turkey bits, Ray was in bed.

"Cough," I said to Gregg. "Cough or Ray will hear me taking the foil off of the turkey and come into the kitchen." We both started coughing. We heard the jingling and it wasn't Santa. Ray appeared at the door of the kitchen. "SIT. STAY," I said. Ray sat and stayed. I dropped a piece of turkey in front of him. Moonie scooted by him and up the stairs. Hugo hunkered down behind the rolling butcher block cart and watched Ray scarf up his tasty morsel. I filled a plate with turkey for our dinner and one for the cats. I dropped a few pieces on the ground for Ray.

We all gave thanks one last time.

Everybody Play Football!

On Thanksgiving morning Ray and I headed to the dogpark. It was a bit later than we usually go and, because it was a holiday, there were tons of people and dogs. Two guys started passing a football back and forth while their dogs wandered around. A German Shepherd started chasing the ball as it flew between the two guys. The Shepherd was almost immediately joined by an American Bulldog and about a dozen other dogs, the shepherd and bulldog being the instigators and the most aggressive in their pursuit of the ball.

My blind dog Ray, not knowing what was going on, but sensing that SOMETHING FUN was happening, joined the pack, always about a half a turn behind the rest. They would be barking at the guy with the ball as he threw it, and Ray would be yelling his head off as he trotted the stretch between the two guys, generally headed in the wrong direction.

The bulldog tackled the guy who fumbled the ball. The shepherd took off with it, followed by the pack of dogs and the guy trying to get his ball back. Ray yelled. People laughed. The guy eventually got his ball back and the game broke up. We stayed at the park for over an hour. Ray was having a blast and didn't want to leave.

That night I was working on a project in my office. Gregg yelled upstairs "Ray's limping again. I massaged his leg a bit." "Give him an anti-inflammatory!" I yelled back. About half an hour later I went down to check on the hound. He was stretched out, sound asleep in his bed, snoring. Gregg had given him a pill and thrown a light blanket over him as he slept. (Do I have a great husband, or what?)

This morning, Ray was in fine form. Except for the slightly swollen leg, it was difficult to tell that he'd been under the weather the night before. We stayed home from the park even though Ray was obviously bored at home. It's going to be a tough convalescence while we wait for his knee to recuperate fully.

Happy Thanksgiving

Top ten things I'm grateful for at Thanksgiving:

1. My most excellent husband
2. My wonderful family
3. My great friends and neighbors
4. Moonie, Hugo, and Ray
5. Turkey and mashed potatoes
6. Being born in America
7. My job (when I'm actually working)
8. Wool
9. Olives
10. Rubber bands (sometimes it's the little things)
11. Dogparks (OK, so I have 11 things. Sue me.)

Top 10 things that Gregg is grateful for at Thanksgiving:

1. A great wife
2. My sister
3. A steady and interesting job
4. Relative financial security
5. Living in America
6. A roof over my head
7. Good health
8. Good running shoes
9. Mac computers
10. The invention of squeeze-bottle ketchup

Top 10 things that Moonie is grateful for at Thanksgiving:

1. Turkey, catfood, lunchmeat, whip cream
2. The hook and eye on the door to the cat room that keeps Ray out
3. Her heated bed
4. Bellyrubs
5. Birdies (feathers on a stick)
6. Catnip
7. Catnip mousies
8. Cardboard Scratchie Pads
9. Her tent
10. Milk

Top 10 things that Hugo is grateful for at Thanksgiving:

1. Food
2. Being able to terrorize a blind dog
3. The gate that keeps Ray downstairs
4. The hook and eye on the door to the cat room that keeps Ray out
5. Bellyrubs
6. Cat treats
7. Chewy fabric
8. Twist ties
9. Small animals
10. Windows

Top 10 things that Ray is grateful for at Thanksgiving:

1. Food
2. Dogparks
3. Rawhide bones
4. Marrow bones
5. Treats
6. Bellyrubs
7. Small children
8. Daycare
9. Wool
10. Coffee

Hey, That's My LUNCH!

Yesterday Ray was such a good dog that I thought maybe someone had switched him with someone else's dog. I also noticed that he was eating a lot of grass when we took our walks. This morning he didn't finish his breakfast and wasn't his usual playful self. It figures that Ray is the most perfectly-behaved dog when he isn't feeling so hot.

I decided that maybe it was the anti-inflammatories (that he was taking for his knee) that was making Ray feel bad. So I stopped giving them to him.

Noonish, I noticed that he seemed to be perking up. When I made myself a bowl of popcorn for lunch, Ray jumped up on the couch next to me and put his nose in my face, literally trying to steal the food from my mouth. I pushed him off the couch with my forearm. Ray immediately used his usual tactic of coming at me from a different direction. He hopped his front feet up on the couch and stretched his neck out. I "Bah"ed and told him "off", pushing him feebly with a hand full of popcorn. One piece popped out of my hand onto the floor. Ray hopped down and started sniffing around (how did he know that one piece fell on the carpet? can he hear a piece of popcorn hit the carpet? did it leave a scent trail as it flew through the air?). His ears were deployed in full Dumbo the Elephant mode as he sniffed, sniffed, SNIFFED. He was getting farther away from the piece of food when I noticed that the lamp and wireless telephone docking station were silently sliding across the end table. I quickly set my bowl of popcorn on the coffee table and grabbed Ray's collar. He was tangled in the phone and lamp cord. I removed the cords from around his feet, replaced the phone and lamp, and turned just in time to see his head in my bowl.

I guess he was feeling much better.

It Makes Me Wonder

Sometimes when I'm standing at the kitchen sink, Ray comes up behind me and puts his nose on my butt cheek. Then he snuffles down my leg to my knee, moves to the other leg, snuffles up to my butt cheek and stops. I always find myself wondering...what did I sit in?

Ray's New Toy

Gregg and I went to a yard sale this morning. I'm always looking for toys for a blind dog and this morning I bought two. A mink stole - made out of half a dozen little minks - and a sheep. Not a real sheep but one made out of wool. We all know how Ray LOVES wool. So here he is with his sheep. I'm saving the minks for later.

.

...And here he is playing with a rawhide chew.

And finally, Moonie when she thought Ray was never coming back (from the vet on Wednesday)

SASHA!

Ray is bored. He hasn't been to the dog park in three days. Of course, the first day he was sick. The second day, while he was still recovering (but bored), I took him with me to the PetStore to get food and rawhide. Ray loves to shop. It's kind of funny to see him become so overwhelmed with the smells in the store that he doesn't know which way to go first. I really have to watch him though. Ray is a shoplifter. Otherwise, he is pretty well behaved in the store. It's part of my training plan to get him completely socialized - expose him to as many people and situations as possible.

It's the third day and Ray is, apparently, fine. All day long he followed me around the house and when I stopped to do something he would hang his head and give a deep sigh. Or he would yawn so wide that I could have fit my head in his mouth. Then I would say "Oh the poor blind dog doesn't have anything to do. He doesn't have any friends and no one will pay attention to him. It's just so sad!" and Ray would look a little embarrassed but it didn't stop him.

I took him for a walk around the block this morning and we ran into Sasha (See "Ray and Sasha, A Love Story" 7-2-09) and Betsy (Sasha's mom). Ray was so glad to see Sasha. It was as if he hadn't seen another dog for weeks. They played on the ends of their leashes, both of them going a little crazy, when all of a sudden Sasha slipped her collar. She took off across the street with Betsy in hot pursuit, calling "Sasha! Come on Sasha! Come here Sashie!" I stayed on the other side of the street and was calling too, my heart was in my throat (I could only imagine what Betsy was feeling). I yelled to Betsy "Run AWAY from her and call her!" "Run away!" (Advice I'd gotten from my BFF). I pulled Ray on his leash and we started away from Sasha "Sasha! Come on Sashie," I was trying to sound like we were going to have loads of fun. Betsy hesitated for a brief moment then started away from Sasha too, still calling her. Sasha stopped and looked at all of her friends leaving, then turned and followed. As soon as Sash got within reach, Betsy tackled her (it was AWESOME). She pinned Sasha to the ground with her body, put the collar on her then led her back across the street. "That is Todd's worst nightmare," Betsy said.

It's my worst nightmare with Ray, too.