T(rainer)-Day Approaches.

Ray looking to get his belly rubbed

Another day of work for me. Another day of daycare for Ray. They all call him RayRay at the daycare center. Ray made another friend, a little dog of indeterminate heritage. Except for Porkchop, Ray really does seem to enjoy the little dogs better. 

After work, but before I picked up Ray, I went to check out another daycare site. I'd like to find something a little closer. Preferably one between work and home. This one was run by a vet, so of course the dogs were in cages and had no interaction with each other. I'm sure it's a sound concept if you're a vet, (don't want dogs to get contaminated by other dogs), but if you're a dog, it's probably not so much fun. I thanked them for showing me the facility and told them my dog needed to run around all day because of a lymph node problem. They explained about how comfy the cages were and I reiterated that my dog needed to move around. They said that they take them out of the cage for 20 minutes of exercise a couple times a day, and I said thanks but my dog needs more exercise than that. Then I got the hell out of there. I'm sure they meant well. 

I had about a half hour before the daycare price went from half-day rates to full-day rates, so I stopped by Tuesday Morning, a store that sells random stuff at discount prices. I always check out the books, and darned if they didn't have four different books on dogs; training, raising, breeds, and health. I bought two books (I figured it couldn't hurt to actually KNOW something about dogs if I was actually going to have one for awhile - or at least for a couple more weeks) and wondered if I could read them before the trainer came so that I didn't seem like a COMPLETE idiot. 

Ray was really tired and thirsty when we got home from daycare. He is a very slobbery dog when he drinks (oh what I would give for a mud-room). During the first few days he was here, I would use paper towels to wipe up his post-drink water trail. Now I just keep a towel on the floor next to his bowl and use my foot to swipe it around. My kitchen floor has never been cleaner. Although, I'm thinking I could use some more towels. 

We had a mostly quiet evening except when Hugo was at the back door waiting for entry. I opened the door for him and of course it woke up Ray who immediately came into the kitchen to see who was going outside and what kind of fun thing they were going to do without him. Hugo took off but Ray had his scent and took off too, his nose to the ground. He is determined to get a good, close-up sniff of that cat, even if it kills him. 

Ray in sleep mode after a hard day at doggie daycare. 

I called to Ray, who came for a moment but then turned back to the scent. He trailed Hugo to the pavers in front of the gate at the far end of the yard. Hugo was lounging on his side, and except for a certain tension in his body, you would think he didn't have a care in the world. The cat acted nonchalant for as long as he could, but when Ray got within about 5 feet, Hugo jumped the fence. Ray tried to do the same but was hindered a bit by not being able to actually see the top of the fence. I made a loud, ACK noise, my noise of choice  to discourage him from getting near the cats, and Ray immediately swerved away. I think he may be catching on, it's hard to tell though since he doesn't get close to the cats often enough for me to use the noise consistently.  

Tomorrow the trainer comes. I'm looking forward to finding out how to give this dog some education. He's a good, smart dog but I am a bad, ignorant teacher. I can't wait to find out what to do.

Gregg told me that George Orwell had an entry in his diary that read "Two eggs." and nothing else. Apparently George had chickens while he was in Africa. So if you see a heading on this blog that says "two eggs" you can probably skip it entirely.