No More Travels!

My thanks to all who commented on yesterday's post, especially to those who understand that I was merely venting.  I live alone and write things in my blog to express how I'm feeling at the time - maybe I should never write a negative word, ever.   That is obviously what some would prefer.  Also, I have seriously considered the suggestion that I get a crate for Bear.  I never did like crates, but I will definitely be using a borrowed one to take Bear camping next week.  I could never drive with him jumping over the seats - but maybe he will have settled down enough by then - who knows.  My issue with a crate would be the sheer size and weight of the dog.  I would estimate his weight at about 90#, and at 11 yrs old he needs to be able to change positions easily in order to prevent pain in his joints.  A crate seems so confining.  (The XL size crate is also very expensive!)

At any rate, he was perfect last night - stayed on his bed in the living room all night long (as far as I know anyway).   He is very intelligent as well.   I decided to see if I could teach him to heel while walking, and he knew immediately what I wanted and did it perfectly.

As far as his diet, I add a bit of a product that is all meat - no by-products - and a potato flour binder rather than the garbage most companies use to bind the foods.  When I said I give him about 1/5 can with the pellets I was wrong.  What I actually do is scoop out a couple of small forkfuls and add it to the pellets, trying to just see that the pellets have some meat on each.  The can probably lasts for at least 8 meals.

I was advised to give meat to Lady by Penny, who has been a tireless and dedicated SPCA volunteer and foster parent to many needy animals in her part of Texas, and I trust her judgment and advice.  I have also read a lot about it - how it is much better for a dog than all the manufactured products with fillers, grains, etc.   Dogs are basically carnivores, and while I can't afford to feed a dog a strict meat diet, I can add a bit to their daily diet.  I do agree that it was probably too much too soon with the stress levels being so high in the beginning.

So for those who are already bored with hearing about my feeble attempts to deal with an 11 year old overweight dog, I will try to refrain from writing so much in the future.  I originally wanted a 6-8 yr old black lab, which I think I could have handled pretty well.  An 11 yr old presents all kinds of extra issues and problems that I didn't anticipate, but I'm working on it.

I never thought I'd be happy to have a few days in the 90's, but I am very happy with it now.  By Monday it will go back up over the century mark, so I will enjoy needing a jacket and warm clothes for sleeping.  I think I remember seeing something about dogs not being allowed on many of the trails where I'm heading, so I'll need to double check that.  No problem - we can walk around the campground and just sit and enjoy nature most of the time.  I don't know if there is phone coverage where I'm going, but I doubt there is.   It was so relaxing on our family camping trip to not have people constantly holding and looking at their phones, and being without technology for a while can be truly stress-relieving. 

I tried again to load the updates on my Garmin GPS and this time it said "Updates loaded".  So I'll see if it works - if not, then I've decided to just scrap the whole GPS thing.  I can figure out how to get somewhere the way I did for years in the past. 

Enough for today, as it is getting warmer and I'm getting more uncomfortable.  Is anyone else looking forward to fall or winter?