11-8-2008 - My Other Child...

My mood while writing this blog: Tired

His name is Domino. He is our fuzzy, adorable, witty 10 month old puppy who is more moose then dog with his bumbling ways and weighing in at 50lbs but acting like he's still a lap dog. Anyway, this dog. My dog, was a complete handful and I wanted to strangle him yesterday. Talk about putting the pregnant woman to the test!!!

This weekend, my husband and I decided to take Domino to the lake with us. My parents have a big boat there that we can just relax on and Domino can play with their dog Tobey (She's old and sweet... I call her lamby). Anyway, Sunday morning rolls around and I have had the hardest night sleeping. I just can't seem to get comfortable with this pregnancy. Domino, who sleeps next to the bed has taken notice in this and has to get up everytime I get up, thinking "Is it time to pee?" For me, yes.... For him, concidering I have to walk him 200 yards just to get to a patch of grass... no. He has to wait. Well, finally, at 7 am, he can not wait any longer and noses me in the face until I submit to his requests. So I get up, I put on my best "I don't give a poop what I'm wearing, its comfortable" outfit and I lazily walk his fuzzy butt up down the dock and up to the land where he can do his business. And being that I'm a good daughter, I take Tobey with me since she too has heard Domino stomping around and has left my parents room to investigate. So the 3 of us go for a walk leaving everyone else on the boat and on the dock to their slumbering.

While we are up on the land and both Domino and Tobey are doing their business, Domino starts getting a little A.D.D., sniffing everything in sight (each blade of grass is different and a new adventure), So in frustration, I jerk on his leash for him to focus and just do his dirty work so I can go back to bed and be happy again. But all of a sudden, as I do my little tug, his head pops right out of his collar and he is startled as much as I am as the collar with lease falls to the ground between us. He is no longer in my control, and by golly, he knows it! That dog takes off running down a hill of rocks towards the beach in a matter of a second (I swear I could read his mind at that point "Catch me if you can fat girl!!!"). He is free bound and he takes off running down the beach. Of course, I cant go down the rocks so I found a different avenue to take and proceed to try and cut him off on the other side of the dock, however, just as I'm to the point of impact, he hears another dog bark. One that is clearly in a different direction then where we are going. So he stops in his tracks, perks his ears up and then takes off running in that direction. I swear, I was like, you've got to be kidding me! Who in the heck walks their dogs this early in the morning?! Yeah, I wasn't thinking straight! Anyway, he gets back on the grassy part and then goes up on the street and takes off down the street. I'm running right behind him, dragging Tobey with me, yelling every cuss word you could probably imagine. He is probably a good 50 yards ahead of me the whole time. Its not until we are 3/4ths of a mile down the road when he spots the other dog that was making the noise and makes a run for her. I am in the back ground telling the owner of this other dog, don't move! Because I know this is the other time that I can catch up with him and because I know he is harmless. So I finally catch up to him, completely out of breath and he is circling around her when I am able to grab his tail. Now let me tell ya something, his tail has been made an on going joke around our house. Its huge bushy and completely has a mind of its own. It knocks down buildings in a single swish! But, I know now, that god made that tail on that dog for a reason. I grabbed that tail and did not let go. He knocked me to the ground but he was going no where. We were both in the middle of the road, on the ground and I'm on the verge of passing out.

So I put back on the trouble dogs collar and drag him back to the dock. I'm very irritated and poor Tobey doesn't understand that when I'm fussing at Domino, I'm not fussing at her. So every sentence out of my mouth is "Good dog, Bad dog." Its exhausting. We get back to the boat and Domino is still wired and confident so he jumps from the dock to the boat like he's done millions of times before, but this time, he's just a little off balanced and he slips and falls directly in the lake, between the boat and the dock. The dock is about 3 feet from the surface of the water and between the boat and the dock is very narrow. He starts thrashing about and panicking. If I try to pick him up by his collar, then his head will slip out again. So I have to think fast. Everyone is asleep so I have no help. I sit down on the dock, reach down with one hand and I grab the nap of skin on the back of his neck. Now, i'm guessing the adrenaline kicked in because that 50 lbs wet hairy dog that was thrashing about became as light as a feather and I picked him right out of the water and onto the dock. He landed on top of me, drenching me in the process, but he was completely safe and was VERY happy to be in my custody at that point.

So talk about an exiting morning for this mother to be. I told Domino, if I have any problems with this baby because of all the stuff he put me through that morning, he was going back to the pound! Sheesh!