Trixter’s In A Winter Wonderland

Last Updated on: 14th April 2014, 11:55 am

Man, it’s been a while since I’ve written about Trixie. Let’s fix that.

I don’t think Trixie quite knows what to do with all this snow. The first time she saw it, it was slippery, and she tried to fly at her regular summer pace, and quickly realized that was not a safe plan. She was completely shocked by the white stuff. Later that morning, I had her out on the balcony, and then she seemed happy as hell to frolic in it. She was flopping around, rolling in it, trying to eat it, sniffing it all over. Every time she hits a new patch of snow, it’s like a whole new thing for her. She was making footprints in it when I had her out to play and then following the paths she made. She certainly doesn’t hate the snow, that’s for sure.

That’s not saying she doesn’t have snow issues. Sometimes, she can be absolutely awesome when we’re walking, and figure out what snow she has to climb over and what snow she doesn’t, and walk a perfectly straight line down the sidewalk. Sometimes, oh boy she gets confused. Yesterday, I think she was looking for a clear patch, and decided that we just had to go across a parking lot to a building! Oh dear! Then I had to bail us out. But she’s learning, and when she makes a mistake, it’s not a dumb one. Her street crossings are still straight as an arrow.

Boots are going to give me nightmares. They’re driving me nuts. I tried one set, and she wouldn’t even bend her legs. I tried another, and she’d walk in them, but they’d just keep falling off. I got another set from the vet, and they’re too complicated for me to figure out! But she seems to need boots, because I think her screwing up is because she doesn’t want to put her paws in the ugly snow and salt goo that’s everywhere, and I can’t blame her. I’ve been putting something on her paws to repel salt, but it just isn’t enough…or maybe she’s stealthily licking it all off. I’ve been catching her at it, and she seems to be doing it less, but the little devil isn’t helping her cause with that. I think I’m getting my just reward for giving mom a hard time about stuff when I was a kid.

I even had someone make me something to put on so if her boots fall off, they’re still hanging from her, and I’m even having issues with that. I just want to put boots on, have them stay on, or not be horribly difficult to adjust, and then we can walk and her feet can be shielded from the winter weather! I just want simplicity! Is that too much to ask?

I finally found a toy that is a true battle for the Trixter. It’s a Goughnut! If you have a dog who chews toys to death, you have to get them this toy. She has been chewing on it, and it hasn’t even shown a mark. I think she’s annoyed with it though, she can’t see any progress. But she can’t be too annoyed with it, she took it to bed with her last night! Damn I wish I could have used my phone’s camera to capture that image.

I really think she’s learning English. No no listen. The other day, I was walking from the apartment to the elevator and said, ah crap. She stopped, looked up at me and turned back a little bit as if to say, “You forgot something?”

It gets better. I said to Steve, “Ok, I have to get dogfood, I have to go to the bank and then the drugstore. Then I wanna catch the bus to go to the mall.” As we were walking down the sidewalk in the general direction of the store where I would get dogfood, she put on the brakes. It was a hard stop. It wasn’t a sort of “we’ve been there before, ya wanna go again?” stop, it was a “We have arrived” kind of stop. Then, on the way back from that stuff, we went to cross the street. Usually, we would be coming home, so we would turn and cross the other way. But she didn’t even try to go that way. She went for the bus stop! We never hit the bus stop from that direction! Man oh man she’s a genius and she amazes me every day!

Speaking of amazing, I was at Steve’s mom’s place this past weekend. We haven’t been there in six months. But she remembered where she used to pee, she remembered the downstairs and the way things were laid out, she remembered everything! Oh, and she didn’t bark once. Last time we were there, there was a lot of barking going on at bad times, like, 3 a.m. when someone came home late, or 5 a.m. when someone had to leave for a shift. No more barking now. Yea!

I think that’s about all the Trixie updates. Well, she may have some things to say. But that’s all I can come up with for now.

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