occupational hazard

Can I tell you how much I've enjoyed being at home this week with the doggies? It's amazing how much they have benefited from being able to run to their hearts content at the dog park every day. More for my sanity than theirs.

Zoe is unbearable if she doesn't get exercise, and Rick and I have been terrible about making time to get her outside to run around. So this week I thought I'd take the opportunity of "working" from home to take an hour and get the dogs outside. My sister came and joined me with her dog Hunter and so we had our pack of dogs -- Zoe, Beaux and Hunter.

Lots of mud, dog foam, and frisbee fetching. And the benefit is that when Rick got home from work, the dogs were just zonked. Which is exactly what Rick and I needed. :)

But, this good deed did not go unpaid. On Saturday, Rick and I took the dogs to the park again -- 4th day in a row and Zoe found another Boxer to wrestle and play with. Beaux has been really benefiting from the exercise. Seeing him run around chasing Zoe, you'd never guess he's 12 years old. Rick and I stood there chatting with the other Boxer's owner, while the "kids" ran off some steam. I'd occassionally unlock my knees when they'd start running towards me, lest I get an inverted kneecap when they bodyslammed me.

One of the times, the three dogs headed toward me, still wrestling, and so I turned my back to them. Bad idea. I felt a pinch, and uncontrollably yelled Goddammit. Was it a nail? Nope. Zoe, being the mouthy puppy she is, bit me in the back of my thigh. It was just a "flesh wound" though. One mark from a tooth, and mostly just a lot of bruising.

The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet until last night. We were sitting in the livingroom and Beaux started to heave pretty hard core. It was pretty frightening to see him try to expel something, but for a long time there was nothing. And then he finally relieved himself of some of his kibble. This went on all night. As soon as he would expel, I would have to clean it up.

Poor thing, he is feeling awful. We let him sleep in the crate last night hoping he was passed all of it. I fed him again this morning, and let him go back into the crate to protect him from Zoe's unquenchable desire to play. And then I heard it again. The whole meal deal....Yuck.

I am so not cut out for this stuff. I'm hoping my sick boy will start to feel better soon. Meanwhile, Zoe sits here on the floor next to him with her head resting on his back. All calm for now.