I would like to share with you about my last weekend - then I will get to this weekend's traumatic events.
Last Friday, Joan came home from work and started putting things in that zippered wheeled box (suitcase) and I became worried. I don't want her to leave me because she had just gotten home from being away for a week. She brought the case downstairs and put it on the floor in the dining room and was still putting things in it. Then she went upstairs to get something else. Usually, I would follow her up there, but not in this extreme situation! Something might happen and I might get separated from the wheeled case that always stays with Joan. So I stood right next to the case and waited, worried, but also a little bit excited. I got more excited when she brought my dog bed down from her bedroom because I thought that I might go with her!
She started loading things into the car and I went out into the garage and into the backseat and just stayed there. She went in and out of the garage and I just stayed in the car. You can't get rid of me! I bet she wonders how long it would take until I would investigate where she was. Then she actually did get me out of the car to take a short walk and then we got in the car at 3;30 on Friday afternoon. We started driving east on 94 and traffic was not great. I was very agitated, as I usually am in stop and go traffic, so I did not sit down nor stop yelping until we were well into Wisconsin and about an hour had passed.
Several hours later we arrived at her sister's house in Madison. I was excited to see Eileen! I wagged my tail a whole bunch when I saw here. She always likes to see me, too.
I could smell that there was a cat in the house, but it went down into the basement upon my arrival. And, you may not know it, but I DO NOT go into basements. I'm scared of them, so the cat was very safe down there. Although, I like cats okay - I let them be the alpha pet, so I usually get along fine with them in a house. Outside, I usually want to go investigate them and sometimes bark at them. Joan was admiring the bathroom that Eileen had remodeled - I stepped into the room but Eileen said "no, no." Joan forgot her own rule that I am not allowed in bathrooms!
On Saturday, I was very agitated. They put me in the car and we were aiming to go to a park for a walk. But we kept making mistakes and it took a LONG time to get me on a walk. First, several blocks from Eileen's house, she was confused which way to go on the highway based on the directions from the Internet, so we went back to the house to get a map. Then we went on our way, me howling and yelping because I am excited to go for a walk! We get to where the website gave us directions to this marsh area but it did not seem right. It had private property signs up, and it was not what Eileen had been to before. So we got back in the car and drove a different way (good thing we had that map!), and we got to the regular entrance. But even though their website said they allowed dogs, there was a BIG sign that said NO DOGS. I feel discriminated against. Although, Joan said she was surprised that the website said that dogs were allowed in a marsh area because it is usually a delicate area - but still, they need to get their website right! This time we didn't even get out of the car. I was still yelping!
Joan and Eileen looked at the map and found a county park Eileen had never been to. Joan said, let's go there, and if they don't allow dogs, I'm going to have to pronounce Madison not-dog-friendly. We drove back practically to where we had been before and found the entrance to this park. We finally got out and walked around the groomed trails.
I was sooo happy. After walking around for a while, we arrived back at the car. Eileen suggested we go investigate what the "dog exercise area" was that we saw signs for. We kept seeing a lot of cars go farther into the park and suspected there was a dog park, but we did not know what "dog exercise area" meant. We drove down there and sure enough - there was a big dog park. So I got another run. It was a pretty big park and we went up to the top of the hill and Joan and Eileen threw my favorite purple bone toy for me. Here I am running up the hill after I fetched the bone.
The neat thing is this park is right along Interstate 94, so Joan said we can easily go there on the way in or out of Madison when we visit in the future. It was kind of cold, so we decided to head back home.
Here is a picture of me in my "spot" in the house. They have big windows in the front of the house, so I just sit there and look out. This picture, taken on Sunday, also shows how I took Joan's shoe and put it on my bed for comfort when Joan and Eileen went to breakfast.
I woke up Joan early on Sunday and she took me out for a walk in the neighborhood. There is a park nearby and we walked over toward it, and then Joan say the sign "NO DOGS". Geez! Again, we do think Madison is not dog-friendly. I mean, as long as Joan picks up after me (and she does), I don't do any damage to the park. That's the whole idea of a park - to bring people together and that includes people's pets! At least it should be.
Later on Sunday, Joan asked Eileen to help her cut my back toenails. I squirm so much, Eileen tried to hold the front of me so Joan could cut my toenails. But OUCH, on the third nail, Joan cut too much and I started bleeding and it was a bit of a mess. Joan told Eileen to get a bowl of flour because that is supposed to help stop the bleeding but you can imagine - we had drops of blood and a lot of flour on the backporch. It seemed to stop and then we went for a walk (Joan, of course, dropped the cutting toenail business - she also felt really bad.) But my toenail kept bleeding so they rubberbanded a rag on my foot. It looked ridiculous, but I am very tolerant so I just laid on my bed with it.
Then Joan and I drove home at 4:00. It was around 4:30 and that is my usual walk time (even if I had just gone on a walk!), so I barked SUPER loud in Joan's ear. So loud I scared her, and she screamed. So we had two screaming creatures in the car. She stopped at a rest area and walked me around and then we got back in and drove on to Mpls.
