Day 76

7/28/22

Gus is in the spotlight AND not out of my sight today!

When we were walking down by the river, we found ourselves in a quandary. Approaching on our right was a lovely senior citizen out for a morning stroll. To our left sat a young man immersed in his ear buds. Furthermore, he had long hair, a black hoody pulled up and over to his brow and he was hunched over on a park bench. HMMM....what to do.

Gus made the decision for me. Usually, when someone is near, he plops down to his own "sit" command and waits for the intruder to pass. I hold onto his collar because, given half a chance, that innocent looking pup would time everything just right and pounce in joy onto the unsuspecting passerby. That is why I was surprised when he walked right up to the young man without hesitation.

Wasn't I the one who just wrote about trusting my dogs? Well, I had a few moments when I questioned that statement. Taking his hands out of his pockets, the off-putting gentleman looked up at Gus and I asked if he liked dogs. He pointed to his ear buds, but Gus was relentless at this point.

He slowly took the earphones out of his ears and held his hand out to Gus. He displayed a wide variety of ink and tattoos, but the hand seemed friendly. Gus was enthralled! He went as close as he could get and then rolled over in the most submissive pose he could conjure up.

Without it seeming awkward, I began a conversation. We jelled immediately. Chatting about his life, the dogs and anything else that came up in those brief minutes, I felt like I had made a new friend. Gus certainly had. Trust those dogs!

We returned home and Gus, with all the energy of a golden puppy, ran into the front hall for a look out the open doorway. We are having the doors and woodwork repainted, so the house looks a bit different due to wet paint and access to walls for our friend who is doing the painting.

I ran up to brush my teeth and, upon returning, found Mac trying to wrestle "something" out of the Guzzler. A "stuffy" (as they have become know at our house thanks to dear Eli) was proudly displayed in our pup's teeth. We managed to gently remove it only to find a large eye was missing! After a frantic search, we realized it had gone down the "guzzler."

Call to the vet, two tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide, a few attempts at puppy gagging and NOTHING! The vet was sure it would eventually pass, but also suggested we could try having it reappear the way it went down.

Now our boy is feeling pretty yucky. Under our watchful eyes and loving hands, he is soaking up all the attention he needs. As for me, when I do Poop Patrol, as we fondly call the activity, I will be looking for something that is looking back at me.

Ahhh... the joys of puppydom and the rewards for Puppy Mamas! For me, it is worth every moment.