I figured it was about time for another Trixie update. Every single time I do one of these, I feel like I’m forgetting stuff. Oh well, it just means more material for later.
Remember when I mentioned how she like to stretch out on her belly with her legs as far behind her as possible? Well, now she has a new one. Sometimes, she’ll flop down so that she’s almost upside-down, and just stay there. It’s like she’s trying to do a headstand! Strange, strange dog.
I swear I mentioned this before, but I don’t see any reference to it on the blog when I looked back a bit. A while ago, I noticed that after she just finished doing something really cool, she would wack my right hand with her nose as if to say “I would like my kibble, please! I believe I deserve something for my trouble.” Well, now it’s gotten a bit worse. It’s nothing I can’t fix, but she’s getting super insistent about getting some kibble in places where it’s not practical to stop and give her some. Silly, silly dog.
I don’t know how she does it, but sometimes, when she’s moving around, her tags sound further away than they are. I’ll start looking for her, and she’ll be right there! Oops. I’m a big moron.
there’s another dog in our building that jingles his tags exactly like Trixie does. At first, I thought it was just that thing they do where they sound far away, but Steve has heard that jingle when I’m gone. Oh god. Maybe that dream about bringing the wrong dog home is slightly less crazy. There’s another dog with the same jingle!
Well, the Kong Wubba is showing some severe signs of weakness. The material is still there, but it has holes, the tennis ball has caved in and looks rather pathetic, one of the squeakers has ceased to squeak, although I don’t think she’s been able to remove it, but she still loves the thing. I can make her go nuts with one squeak of it. I took it with me when we went home to see Steve’s family for his brother’s birthday, and she ran around the basement with it, growling like a lion. You’d never know she had such a ferocious side. I have to get a recording of her doing that before the poor wubba bites the big one.
I’ve been told about another squeaky toy that’s supposed to be super durable. It’s called the Cuz Squeaky Toy. A lady who runs a doggie daycare swears by them, and if anyone’s going to put a dog toy to the test, it’s the owner of a doggie daycare.
I really think Trixie has figured out that even if I pack a suitcase, she’s going to stay with me, and we’re coming back. I could be nuts, but at first, I thought she was awfully nervous when I would pack her things. She would follow me around, but it was in a clingy way. Now, when I start packing, she gets all excited and waggy. It’s neat to watch the change. Now, trips are just a big adventure to her.
My poor pooch and her issues with being easily dominated by other dogs. There’s a girl in town who I help with computer stuff. She has a dog, and I don’t think the dog would hurt anyone, but she makes a big show of being in command in her own home. They have a love-hate relationship. One day, they’ll play. The next, one will growl at the other.
Trixie’s funny about this place. She very much knows how to find the apartment, but once we get to the door, she fights tooth and nail. She does not want to go inside! I have to bribe her with treats to get her in. Things are getting better between them, but still, she’s not so sure about going in there.
The funniest thing they did was compete for the affections of the second person Trixie’s a big fan of, aside from me, of course. As soon as he came over, the two dogs started taking turns running to him. If one seemed to be getting a little more petting than the other dog liked, that dog would scoot in. It was too funny.
She’s so funny. She loves to show that she knows where we’re going. When we’re getting close to where she thinks we’re going, I’ll feel her increase in speed ever so slightly, and sometimes not so slightly. She’s so funny. She tries to read my mind, and more often than not, she succeeds.
I feel sorry for the poor Trixter. In February, they closed the Country Depot, the place where I used to get her food, where that silly dog with only three legs used to hang out. It was also home to the infamous fruit stand. But even now, she stops there and tries to point it out. Oh well, she’s getting less insistent about that. Finally!
I’ve noticed something else. She’s really starting to pick up on the surroundings when we’re on the bus, and when we get to a place where we usually get off, she starts to fidget and prepare to get up! This happens on lots of bus routes. She’ll do it at the stop for the vet and other stuff down that way, she’ll do it for my friend’s place with the crazy dog she’s not too much of a fan of, she’ll do it for our home stop, and she’ll always do it for downtown! This is good! the chances are getting less that I’ll miss my stop.
It looks like Teddy pissed off quite a few people with his incessant howling at everything around him. He and his owners may get evicted, and I’m sure that’s mostly due to his barking at all hours of the day and night. He’s really starting to scare me. At first, he was just annoying. Now, he’s getting more aggressive. Sometimes he’ll strain at the end of his chain and instead of a bored sounding rooroorerooreroo, it’s more of a gurrrrrrroooof! I don’t know, but it doesn’t give me a good feeling. He’s twice the size of Trixie, so I’d hate to see what would happen to her if he decided to attack her. As much as I pity him for the way he’s treated, i.e. left outside for hours at a time, I’ll be glad when he’s gone.
I bought something for Trix that I hope will help in the hot summer months. It’s called a cool it bandana, among other names. You soak it in water for about 20 minutes or so, and it keeps its coolness for a long, long time. She’s already gotten to wear it once, and it seemed to do good things. First off, she likes it, which is always a bonus. Second, it really seems to work! Let’s hope so. My little sun-sponge needs something to help cool her down.
Trixie did something really weird the other night. I haven’t had to tie her down at night since about October or so. Once I hit the sack, she just stays in her bed. If she does get up, she just goes out to the other bed in the living-room. She doesn’t go snooping for anything, she just lays down. But the other night, she did something really weird. I was reading a book, and she got up, went out to Steve, and started snorting at him and wacking her nose into his hand. I came out to investigate, thought maybe she had to go pee really bad and for some reason thought she should ask Steve. Very weird, but it was the only thing I could think of. I took her out, and she didn’t do a thing! I brought her back in, went back to reading, and she did it again! That night was the first night in a long time that she had to spend on tiedown. But she hasn’t tried that crap since, so hopefully it taught her something.
That’s about all I could think of for general Trixie tidbits. I want to talk about the dog first-aid course I took, but that’s a whole separate post. It’s amazing how no matter how long you have a dog, you still notice new things. I’m sure there’ll be more stuff to come, although probably less often than before, just because I’ve written so much up here.
