Gone to the Dogs...

It feels like my dogs have taken over my life, lately.

I am in the midst of trying to find time to work on a couple of bags for my cousin.  I go along very well and then life gets in the way.  I think I really dislike doing things at the request of other people.  I need to be working on these items more, but the last couple of days, I have been concentrating on my little furry kids.

Winston, as I type, is at the vet's office getting his teeth cleaned and a couple of teeth extracted.  Not fun for him and not cheap for me.  He needed this done a couple of months ago, but I was trying to get some money put aside so it did not hurt so much.  But I think it began to bother him quite a bit, so I scheduled it and he is there now.

Last night Miles caused my heart to absolutely stop.  Those of you who know where I live, know that I live on a very busy highway.  After moving here in the early 80's I lost a dog who wandered out front of the house and was killed.  Since then, all of my dogs have been tethered to the back deck on a 25 foot lead, giving them a nice area to run but keeping them safe.

Sometimes Miles goes out by himself.  He loves going out and sitting at the end of his lead and just watching the trees and bushes, the birds and whatever other animals he can see.  Sometimes both he and Winston go out together and play.  Just after dark fell, they both wanted to go out, so we go out into my inside porch and I hooked them up on their leads.  Then I open the door to the deck and off they go.

I will stop here to briefly tell you that when I adopted Miles, I was told that he likes to dash out of doors to escape/

I came in, did a couple of things and then went to the door to see if they were ready to come in.  Winston bounded up the steps and into the inside porch.  I bent down and stared at his halter.  I had connected BOTH leads to his collar..... how, I do not know.  All I knew was that he had bounded out of the door and had not been attached to anything.  P A N I C !!!!!!!

I yelled his name a couple of times but saw no movement.  Then I dashed to the back steps and there he was, in the light of the outside spot, laying on the ground, chewing on what looked to be a stick.  I go down and as I approach, he growls at me.  I slowly picked him up and breathed a sigh of relief.  I took him into the inside porch and closed the door.  Another deep breath.  Now I worked a moment or two and finally removed the stick from his mouth.  Except it was not a stick, it was withered and covered in fur.  It was a body part of some poor long-dead animal.

So where he got it, I have no clue.  He obviously had wandered away from his usual area and found a critter to chew on.  BUT he had come home to chew.  But I need to be very, very, very careful on how I connect the leads from now on.

He is now sleeping on one of the cleaned dog pillows on the floor.  He is not in my lap and not playing with toys.  He had gotten sick in the car when we took Winston to the vet, but he had not eaten and may have been suffering from motion sickness for the first time.  Luckily I had the back seat covered with an afghan to protect the seat from damage when I traveled to Minnesota last summer, so I just had to remove it and wash it.  It will go back in the car when I go to pick up Winston.  But he is either not feeling well or really missing his brother.... or both.

And I am so grateful that he stayed in the area and did not get out on the road!!!