The Story of Bell - Day 8

(From Bell's perspective).

Today was a bit more mellow than yesterday. I think the tiredness of walking 3 miles in the morning, playing in the afternoon and then going to play with the frisbee and tennis ball has finally started to catch up with me. I still have tons of energy, but I'm not bouncing off the walls anymore.

Carol woke up this morning and took me back to the dog trail. We planned on doing on 2 miles this morning, but we met a woman who's name we don't know, and her dog Latte, and ended up doing three whole miles again. Latte is a 12 year old pup, and had tons of energy. Latte was being walked off of her leash, so she and I became quick friends since I was off my leash too. Latte was a submissive pup too, so we got along really well. I must admit though, I listen much better than Latte. When we were romping around the walking path, I would listen to Carol when she called me. Latte would ignore, ignore, ignore, then finally respond to her owner. Responsive or not, I had tons of fun with Latte this morning.

This afternoon was quite uneventful. Since I was so tired, I just hung around the house all day without even really playing with my toys too much.

This evening though, was fun, traumatic, and a learning experience. We went to a new area to play with my ball and frisbee, and within the first 10 minutes, Carol accidentally threw the ball into the Blackberry bushes. If you know anything about blackberry bushes, you know that those suckers hurt! I wouldn't dare go in there to try and find my ball. Good thing we were right down the street from Walmart. Carol left me with Shawn so that she could replace my lost ball. When she got back with my new ball, she noticed that I was covered in something. Shawn was on the phone taking a business call at the time, and maybe didn't notice what happened, but I was probably running a bit too fast trying to catch the frisbee, and I slid across the grass and into some poop. You read the right - poop! I'm not sure if it was deer poop, or dog poop (we're guessing the latter), but it smelled SO BAD. Carol and Shawn immediately took me back to their house, thankfully they have a blanket covering the backseat of the car. When we got there they gave me a bath. This was soooo not a happy time (see the first pic above). They washed my whole body, paws, belly and all, even though the poop was only on the front right side of my chest, and halfway down my right leg. They washed the poopy area three times to make sure I smelled wonderful, and that I was completely clean. (Even after 3 washings, the part of me covered in poopy still smelled a little, so later tonight they washed that area of me just one more time. Now I smell really good - like Boysenberries. At least that's what the doggie shampoo smelled like.)

After the bath they took me to play some more since I'm afraid of the hair dryer. Running does the same thing, and I get to play - so they thought this was a good idea. We went back to the water district (see the second picture) to play some more. After the water district, I was still a bit damp, so I stuck my head out the window and Carol drove around town a bit. They had to stop by the grocery store, so off we went.

Carol and Shawn (more Carol) have been really concerned about the amount of food I have been eating, or not eating I should say. I eat some treats in the morning, then maybe one or two small treats throughout the day, then I barely eat a cup of food at night. Well, this means that I have lost a bit of weight while my family has been on vacation. I just don't think that Carol and Shawn know my schedule, and how I maybe eat alone. My food at their house is always with them, and I am a bit apprehensive to eat around them. Even taking treats from their hand is a bit hard for me still, but I'm getting more used to that.

While at the grocery store they picked up two more things for me. They bought me a can of Iams dog food, and a savory bacon sauce to put on dry dog food, also from Iams. They are trying to entice me to eat more. Well, it worked like a freaking charm!!! Carol got my bowl out and put a whole scoop of food in there with a few tablespoons of wet Iams dog food from the can, and man did I chow down. When she noticed that I was chowing down, and had actually licked the bowl clean, she gave me a second helping. I finished 2 whole scoops in a matter of minutes tonight. Yep, they are happy campers now that they have figured out how to get me to eat. They haven't tried the bacon sauce yet, but I'm sure I will love it. There's enough for me to take home when my family comes back from vacation. But for now, I'm hoping they will stick with the wet dog food (just a few tablespoons) to coat my dry dog food. They are trying to be cautious and not change my diet. But hey, at least I'm FINALLY eating!!!! And since I have lost a bit of weight since coming to Shawn and Carol's, we are all happy to get some food in me. Plus, with all of the exercise, I need to keep my calorie intake up. I hope mom and dad won't be too mad that they have had to try a number of different things to get me to eat my food.

After we went to the supermarket, I was exhausted!!! The final picture to the side is of me in the front seat with Shawn. When I get tired in the car I like to cuddle with Shawn, sit on his lap while we are driving so he can pet me. (Carol and Shawn are such suckers!).

Until tomorrow...... Little Miss signing off.......