Now that the election is over (gloriously, wonderfully over), I will be taking down my Obama badge in the sidebar. I’m following Miss Zoot‘s example. As she says (and this is only part of why Zoot is awesome) :
I don’t want to think anymore about stickers on cars and signs in yards. I just want to think about my part in making this country the best she can be. I am no longer an Obama supporter. I was one last night as I openly wept listening to our next president address the nation. But today? I am simply a US citizen who is suddenly so proud of her country she feels like she has no choice but to strive to make it the best it can be.
I am going to be thinking more about what I can do next to help make the country better, and I will let you all know more about that later.
***
For now, though, let’s talk about some more trivial things, shall we? Like for example my dog:
I am Just Darling, I Know
He is adorable, is he not? And 80% of the time, his behavior is also adorable. Then, unfortunately, there is the less-cute 20%. A couple of weeks ago, for example, I was putting clean sheets on my bed and the dog decided to jump up on the bed and “help” me. This sort of thing is not unusual. If you have cats or dogs you know how helpful they like to be when it comes to the laundry. What was unusual was that his “help” here took the form of peeing all over my newly clean sheet. What the hell, dog?
I had to whip it off the bed before any pee could soak through to the mattress and go wash it again (which cost me an additional $2 in quarters as I do not have my own washer dryer). I was not, as you can predict, pleased.
He has also recently been hanging out in front of the hall closet (where his toys are kept) and whining/barking for about an hour every day when I come home. On the one hand, this probably means he would like to play fetch — as you may recall, the dude is addicted to fetch. However, I have only been letting him play fetch occasionally and only outside lest the situation turn into hours and hours of him shoving the ball in my face, which he did once so hard it gave me a bloody nose, and yapping at me to THROW THE BALL THROW THE BALL THROW THE GODDAMNED BALL ALREADY OKAY OKAY. So fetch has been an occasional, outdoors treat. Instead, I have been taking him on a long walk just trying to wear the little dude out. This only works sometimes.
I think he’s a little lonelier during the day because my busy school schedule has been keeping me in the office later and requiring me to go to campus more often on days when I would normally work at home. I am looking for ways to keep him busy. The best solution so far has been to let him spend a few hours wrestling around with his feisty chihuahua buddy, after which he passes out cold on the couch for the rest of the day. I am thinking of asking my friend to let me rent her chihuahua a couple of times a week.
I have been trying to think of other things that would tire him out, and the only really tiring things I personally can think of are grading papers, holding student conferences, or doing Jillian Michaels’ 30-Day Shred workout DVD. Seriously, those activities are brutally exhausting. Barring those, though, do you have any other ideas?
Raveling Out 
Get a labrador for his companion. Trust me – I had two.
Yeah, I am thinking about getting him a doggy friend, but that’s a more long-term thing. Maybe once I have that tenure-track job and I can settle down more and rent or even buy a bigger place with a yard (and the holy grail of houses: a washer and dryer!). Anyway, that’ll happen someday! But it’ll probably be another small dog — he seems to get along with dogs around his own size. I think he suffers the Napoleon complex to a degree.
With two dogs, the social dynamics are completely different. I would add they are more fun and exciting!
Off topic: I was watching Jay Leno and they had Death Cab for Cutie on – I only recognized the name as a result of your blog so I decided to watch. Based on a sample of one song, they’re not all that bad.
Out here we have “Doggy Daycare Centers.” When they first started popping up in the more posh areas of Portland everyone wrote them off as a needless luxury. Now, despite the economy, they’re everywhere. An afternoon in one typically wears out my parents’ indomitable pooch. If they’re not already in your neck of the country they probably will be soon. They’re not too terribly spendy and a once-a-week trip might wear Egon out during periods of important deadline-type stuff but his Napoleon situation could be an issue.
J – Oh, DCFC is most excellent! Yay.
B – We do apparently have a dog day care here, and they even have a room for small dogs, too. I have yet to try it, though. For some reason I feel nervous and/or overprotective of my dog. What if he got in a fight? We’ll see, though. I might still try it out.
We actually had a Dog Whisperer-type come out to our house to help us deal with some of the issues we were having with our pup, who is just SO. FULL. OF. ENERGY. She really stressed the benefit of mental games — hide and seek, toys that make them work for treats (or food). We even just put the breakfast in slightly closed cereal boxes (empty ones, natch), cover them with a towel, and watch them spend five minutes trying to get it. Making them think for 10 minutes is like having them run full out for, like, half an hour, so it’s works pretty well, and doesn’t take up a ton of your time.
K – That is a great point! I have heard that before but I always forget it. I think I am going to look into trying some mental games with him. The hiding breakfast sounds like a good one to try.
At the moment, we just got home from a 45-minute walk, so he’s actually pretty pooped. (For now.)