Longest Home-Alone Day
Grace stayed in bed with us through the night. At 6:00, I took her outside. After a half hour, I touched a poison ivy vine with my hand. I returned back home immediately and washed my hands with a strong soap. I went into study in private. Grace went to the office and relaxed. At 8:00, I fed her (one cup). I continued studying. At 9:30, Betsy took Grace to the park for an hour and a half. When they returned, we both prepared to leave for the funeral. At noon, Grace had her lunch (one-half cup). I took her outside at 12:15. We returned at 12:25 and left for the funeral at 12:35.
When we returned at 5:10, Grace ate her supper (three-quarter cup). I took her out at 5:15. We met up with Olive. They enjoyed wrestling for fifteen minutes. We then had to leave her home alone again. We returned at 7:45. Grace wanted to play. We played tug and fetch. Then Betsy played fetch with her. I gave her a dental chew followed by three chicken and sweet potato treats. Betsy gave crackers and then popcorn. Finally we did tricks for treats. Her tricks were perfect, but the fetch object by name game still needs more time. Grace settled down after that.
I took her outside at 8:45. We returned at 9:00. We stayed up until 10:45. Grace hung out with us on her sofa. At 8:00, I took Grace out for the last time. We returned at 8:15. Grace curled up on her sofa for the night.
Monday
Grace came into bed around 2:00 AM. At 5:00, she awoke and began washing herself. I rubbed her tummy at 5:30. At 5:45, Grace stretched herself off of the bed in her usual way. I got up and took her outside at 6:30. We dropped off a few letters at the mailbox. Grace then crossed the street. At one point she picked up a scent and began to run. I ran down the driveway behind her. It looked like a deer was about 100 yards away. I saw no more hint of the deer, but we spent the rest of the morning tracking through the woods following the scent.
Leash Struggles
Briers and thorns become an increasing challenge as spring approaches, and I try to maintain a leash connection to Grace. I’d like to let her loose, but her tendency to run away is stronger than makes me comfortable. At 8:05, we returned home. Grace had breakfast (one cup). Again, her water bowl was dry. She must drink a lot of water during the night. Grace curled up on the ottoman. At 8:40, she moved to her sofa.
Getting Restless
At 11:00, she became more interested in play. She worked on her stick that she retrieved from the park yesterday. She then played with a handball that we found this morning. She pulled out the small clay pot saucer and the puppy class toy. Finally, not knowing what to do with herself, she headed back to the office. By noon, Grace was getting more restless. I decided to take her for a ride.
Ride and Run
Betsy wanted me to drop off some packages. It would take three trips to load up the car. I took Grace and the small package first. Grace waited patiently in the car as I retrieved and loaded the other two. We then went off to drop them off. I took Grace with the last package. She came into the store and then explored a bit before getting back into the car.
We then moved on to the park for our daily run. That lasted for thirty minutes. This time she went under the fence and ran with me outside it back to the entrance. Her speed is getting very impressive. I do not know exactly what it is, but I expect thirty miles per hour or higher. I gave her a bath after we returned home. She wanted to do some turf surfing. I grabbed her leg and pulled her about thirty feet. As a result, she had dormant turf grass particles all over her. They were a bit of a challenge during her bath, but we managed.
Late Lunch
The best I could tell, I forgot to give her lunch. I did give her some chicken and sweet potato treats though. Grace went to the office to watch for friends in the courtyard. At 2:30, Grace started whining. I figured it must be Olive. I t was. They played for fifteen minutes. The weather was clear and 46 degrees. When Grace came in, she went to the balcony. She wanted to be on the balcony but was hindered by the fan that was sitting on her lounge chair. I moved the fan and Grace got up on the lounge chair.
At 3:30, she came in. I had realized that I hadn’t fed her lunch, so I fed her (one-half cup). She pestered me some more, so I gave her some steak left from the Saturday night dinner practicing tricks. She wanted more, so I gave her a dental chew. Finally, she went back on the lounge chair. Grace came inside at 5:15, lay on the sofa, and fell asleep. At 6:45, she was awakened by the phone. She had supper (three-quarter cup) but wanted more.
Winding Down
When Betsy came home at 7:10, she gave her some of the steak. I took her outside to go get some of the groceries. After that, I gave her a thick dental chew and finally some apple pieces. She returned to her sofa with Betsy. At 9:00, I took Grace outside. When we returned at 9:15, Grace did tricks for treats. At 10:10, she went to bed. We followed shortly thereafter.
Tuesday
Grace stretched out of bed at 5:30. At 6:15, she made a few soft whines to let us know it was time to go outside. We left at 6:25. The main point of interest today was the lower east woods. I marveled as she effortlessly jumped over a two foot high three foot wide obstacle from a standing start. It reminded me of the need to plan to train her in agility and get her acquainted with an agility course. Grace found a toy wooden block and bolted from the woods to the courtyard. After tossing and chasing it for a while she settled down to rip it apart—fiber by fiber. As she finished up at 7:30, Olive appeared.
Fun Play with Friends
Grace and Olive had a great time chasing one another and wrestling. Triscuit an Teddy also showed up for about ten minutes. At 7:55, we broke up the play and headed home. At 8:05 we went back out. Fraggle was there. Grace and Fraggle played with limited vigor. When Jack appeared, Fraggle and Jack started barking. After five minutes, Jack left. we went back home at 8:30. After breakfast, Grace played a few minutes with a new blue ball that we found today. She then went outside to lie on her lounge chair.
As clouds rolled in, I checked the weather report. The time was 9:45. It was supposed to start raining at 10:00. I quickly took Grace down to the car and we drove to the park. After we finished up, I stopped to pick up a few grocery items. When we returned, I found a phone message that Fraggle had headed to the the park. We met up with Fraggle at 11:00. They played almost an hour.
Lazy Afternoon
When we returned home, Grace took a shower. After the shower she had lunch (one-half cup). She then stretched out on her sofa for a nap. At 2:00, I took a letter to the mailbox. When I returned five minutes later, Grace had moved from her sofa to the ottoman in the office. I presume that she was watching where I was going. Grace hung out in the office while I worked in the living room on my laptop.
At 3:30, I began working on reconciling bank statements. I found a problem that required me to meet in person at the bank. I left at 3:45, and Grace came along for the ride. We made it back home at 4:30. Grace did pretty well staying with me in the office without demanding my attention. By 5:00, she asked to play. I told her to wait. She brought various toys. I gave her the same response.
Sundown Antics
When I finished at 6:00, I came into the living room. We played tug and fetch for a few minutes before supper. During supper, she had a dental chew. Then she came and stared us down. I told her to wait. After we finished eating, I gave her a bit of my chicken and the ends of the drumstick joints. We used those treats to practice her tricks. At 7:00, Grace still needed more stimulation. We did tricks for treats focusing on fetching different objects by name.
At 7:50, I took her outside. We returned at 8:30. Grace curled up in the living room chair. At 8:45, she moved under the table where I was eating my evening snack. From there she went to the office for the night.
Wednesday
At 2:15, I got up. Grace had not joined us in bed. It looked like she was sleeping curled up on the ottoman in the office. She never came to bed. Instead, at 6:10, she came to the bedroom with tail wagging and a few light whimpers. We left for our morning walk at 6:20. We covered a lot of territory today. It included all surrounding woods. We even headed up toward Maynard road on the west side of Old Apex.
Bolting / Recall Problem
This the number one problem we have with Grace. It could end up with her getting killed, injured, or lost. In the woods, I really prefer to let her off of the leash rather than be dragged through undergrowth an briers. That usually works well, but unlike at the Salem Pond Park, when I call her around here, she usually ignores me. Today I tried to call her back in the south woods. She simply ran another direction. Eventually, she will let me catch up to her, but each time it happens, it’s worrisome.
When we are across the street, I do not let her off of the leash because I’m concerned she might run back across the busy street toward home. Today, I stopped near the road to tie my shoe. I told Grace to wait. As I tied, I kept the leash loop in one finger. Suddenly, Grace bolted to the adjacent large front yard. There are both squirrels and birds to chase there. She ignored my calls running full speed across the yard and out of sight. Thirty seconds later she emerged from the back along the near side of the house. As she headed around again, she allowed me to approach her, and I got the leash. It had picked up a twig which added some limited drag to her romp.
Entertaining Herself
We made it through the morning walk and returned home at 7:50. Grace had been in the pond a bit also, so she took a quick shower to clean her legs and underside. She went straight to the office. I delayed breakfast until 9:15 when she had one cup. After breakfast she entertained herself with a sock and a cardboard box. She went into the office until about 11:00. Then she returned here to work on a doggie treat box.
Mid-Day Run
At 11:25, I rubbed Grace’s tummy. We then headed out for our trip to the park. I practiced calling her back with treats. As soon as she realized I had them, she eagerly came. An animal about half the size of Grace with longer black fur crossed our path about 50 feet in front of us. Grace ran after it a short distance, but it disappeared into the brush. After our run, we stopped at the store. I returned 10 minutes later with Grace waiting patiently and watching for my return.
Afternoon Siesta
At 12:55, we returned home. Before I realized she needed another bath, Grace went into the office and lay on her ottoman there. I called her into the bathroom and into the tub. After a quick shower, Grace was done. As I dried her off, she abruptly jerked her head up to prepare to shake off. She hit me with her head in the upper lip outside one of my front incisors. She seemed uninjured. Grace had her lunch (one-half cup), but she wanted more. I gave her a chicken sweet potato treat. She still wanted more. I gave her an empty box and a dental chew. She made short work of both. Finally, at 1:30, she stretched out on her sofa for a nap.
At 3:30, she went to the balcony and spotted some friends (not playmates). She whined a bit, but I let her know I wasn’t taking her down for that. After settling down, she retreated to the ottoman perch in the office.
Thursday
When I got up at 3:00, Grace was still on her sofa where I had left her the night before. She followed me to bed shortly thereafter. At 5:30, she left the bed. At 6:10, she whined softly to let me know it was time to get up. We left to explore the world at 6:20. Today we covered the west, south, and east wooded areas.
Bolt Prevention
We went down to the cell phone tower across the street. On the way, we passed the inviting yard with birds and squirrels. Unlike yesterday, I secured the leash loop firmly around my hand. When she tried to bolt, the leash stopped her. I also tried getting between her and her object of attention. That worked like a charm.
Puppy Play
We headed back across the street to the vacant lot with the pond. Grace grabbed various large sticks on the side of the hill and playfully ran with them and tossed them around. She then went to the pond to retrieve a few sticks at the water’s edge. From there, we went to the south woods and then to the railroad tracks.
Prize Retrieved
While in the east woods, Grace found a bone. It definitely was not a chicken bone but could have been a turkey bone. She looked cute proudly carrying her latest prize back to the courtyard for a good snack. As she worked on the bone, I told her to stay while I started my car to clear the windows for Betsy.
Good Morning Fraggle
As we proceeded to the area by the other pond on the grounds, we met Fraggle. After a brief greeting, the two buddies seemed disinterested in play. It was interesting to note that Fraggle looks bigger than Grace now. Fraggle’s owner said that Fraggle weighed 50 pounds, which is definitely heavier than Grace at 46 pounds.
Morning Rest
At 7:50, we returned home. Betsy threw the ball a few times for her, and I tugged a sock. She settled in on the sofa next to me. When I went to the office, Grace followed and curled up on the ottoman there.
At 9:15, I realized that Grace had not had her breakfast yet. After breakfast, she returned to the office with me. At 9:50, the phone rang. Afterward, I went into the living room. Grace followed, perhaps hoping it was a call from a friend. It wasn’t. Since I was in the living room, she opted to go to the balcony lounge chair. Although it was in the forties outside, the sun beating on her black coat made things comfortable for her.
At 10:30, she came inside. I continued bouncing back and forth between office and living room. Grace settled in on the office floor—right next to the wheel of my office chair. I had to be careful. At 11:55, I received a phone call. We talked about Grace who stood right next to me, looking out the window.
At noon, Grace had lunch (one-half cup). She wanted more. I gave her a dental chew. She continued to want more. After three treats, she finally was satisfied. After I ate my brunch, we returned to the office. Grace lay stretched out on the floor behind my chair. At 3:00, we came to the living room. Grace went to the balcony to watch for friends.
Frolic in the Park
At 3:35, we left to go to the park. I’ll record this as another milestone. I’m not sure if she has gone this long during the day before, this must be pretty close to the longest. She went seven hours and forty-five minutes. She indicated no urgency. When we arrived, she spotted a large flock of geese in the meadow. Grace ran full speed. Because it takes those big birds a few seconds to get airborne, Grace was able to get pretty close to grabbing one.
Next, she bounded through the small pond chasing a Mallard duck couple. She ran about two-thirds the way and circled back some. When she started back, she feared getting into a deep spot. She started to double back and then found a shallow-enough path to get back without swimming. Despite all of that action, she still caught up to me and then blew by me.
Recall Progress
Next, Grace spotted some teenagers from the school next to the park jogging on the walkway. I was unable to call her back as she streaked after them and greeted them with her effervescent joy. I had been working on the come command to call her off of distractions. I was not always able, but sometimes she did respond to me calling her off from a very long distance. We’re making progress.
Jump
At 7:00, Grace wanted to do more. I decided to teach her “Jump.” She learned it in five minutes. I set up a couple of banker’s boxes in an isle made by other furniture. At first I used the come command. After a few tries, I started using jump. I put my computer case on top of the box to make the barrier a little higher. She enjoyed the new game, and she learned a new trick which counts as another milestone.
Winding Down
After having practiced her old tricks and learned and practiced a new one, Grace was content to play with toys and chew on her stick by herself. When I went into the office, Grace came in to be with us and lay down on stretched out on the floor. At 9:00, Grace was asleep on the office floor. I called her and took her outside. We returned at 9:15. Grace curled up on the living room ottoman and went to sleep. By the time we went to bed at 10:00, she shifted to the sofa.
Friday
At 5:20, I got up suddenly with a foot cramp. By then Grace was in bed. The commotion was enough late enough in the morning to get Grace going. We gave her tummy rubs. After ten minutes, Grace did her patented slow stretch out of the bed. By 5:50, she let us know it was time to start her day.
Jump Practice
We went out at 6:00. After walking the western area of the grounds, Grace headed out for the northeast woods area. There we practiced the jump command. Before she came to two downed trees across the path, I told her to wait. After I crossed over, I told her “Jump.” She did this with two barriers. We repeated the same process when we came through an hour later. There are many other opportunities for jumping down there. Whenever Grace jumped over something, I told her “Good jump.” Jump is a natural thing for Grace.
A New Toy
Grace found a large (2″ by 8″) piece of black material—perhaps tar. As is often the case, she bolted with it from the woods to a grassy area. She playfully romped in the grassy area tossing and batting around her new toy. She would not obey the recall. She also wanted me to chase her to get the object. After a few minutes, she let me approach her and attach the leash.
Warm Up
The frost again had settled on the car windows. I directed Grace over to the car and told her to stay outside. I turned on the car for five minutes to let it defrost. We stayed nearby as we waited. When it was done, I turned off the car, locked it, and told Grace “Okay.” She proceeded for another round of exploring. This time we walked along the east woods behind the fence and then proceeded north along the railroad tracks. When we reached Maynard Road, we turned west. Grace then made her way back into the townhouse neighborhood next door.
Lazy Morning
At 7:50, we returned to the apartment. Grace greeted Betsy. Grace had her breakfast. She then came to me to play tug and fetch. After a few cycles of that, Grace settled in to entertaining herself. She moved to various spots on the living room floor mostly throughout the morning. One significant accomplishment was to remove one of the two squeakers in her sock toy and bite a hole large enough in it to permanently disable it.
At 11:50, Grace had her lunch then we left for a ride. First stop was the funeral home to pick up some documents. Then, we went on to the park for our daily run. I worked on calling her with a whistle a couple of times. The problem today was that there were no major distractions from which to call her away. At 1:00, we returned home. I forgot to give her a bath. As I prepared and ate brunch, I gave her a treat followed by a small cardboard box to shred and a dental chew. I noticed that this time after apparently finishing her dental chew, Grace choked it back up and finished it—reminiscent of a cow with her cud.
More Milestones
At 1:30, I returned to the living room chair while Grace went out on the balcony to sun herself. At 2:00, she returned inside to entertain her self chewing a stick. She napped on the sofa until 5:00 when I fed Grace supper. After supper we practiced new tricks. First, I placed two chairs seat to seat, making a higher jumping obstacle than previously. She jumped it with ease. Then we practiced up and off intermixed with jump. This is another milestone as she has learned up means to get up on the object and off means to get down from it.
Getting Ready
After that we went outside to take out the trash and get something that I left in the car. On the way, we met Baxter. He was wearing an Elizabethan collar after being neutered. His owner said he will have to wear it for a week. At 6:10, we were heading home when we spotted Betsy pulling in. We followed her home. I gave her a dental chew as we ate a quick dinner before doggie class.
Class
We left at 6:40 for class. Grace was happy to see her friends. The trainer did not like Grace’s play where she goes for the neck and collar. Grace only does this with her friends and never hurts the other dog when she does it. She even backs off on a regular basis. We talked about new commands. He explained to use the leash from a sitting position to teach left and right. Step into her space to teach back. The go command means forward. He also said we can teach her crawl just by luring her with a treat. This was the last class, so we can say that she graduated.
Munchies
We returned home at 8:30. Grace knows popcorn, and she gets the “munchies.” I gave her most of mine feeding her a few kernels at a time. After she finished, she got down to see if Betsy would give her some of hers. At 10:00, as we went to bed, Grace watched us with her head perched on the arm of her sofa.
Saturday
At 5:30 AM, Grace stretched off of the bed. At 5:55, Grace stretched off of the bed in her classic way. We left the house at 6:00. I forgot my radio and treats, so after ten minutes, I brought her back. I left her outside the door to indicate to her the walk was not over. I gave her a treat for waiting and proceeded back to the spot where we were when I doubled back.
New Territory
I had heard about he Cary Greenway on West Chatham, but never knew where it was. We went a long distance on the north side of the road without seeing it. Grace wanted to turn back, so I crossed the street to go on the south side. As we headed east, I saw a gravel path with a sign for the Cary Greenway. The most prominent marker there though is a very large green electrical box. The map show a path meandering south of the ponds that then proceeds to the north side of the road. Despite the length of the walk, I decided to explore.
Oxford Hunt Pond
The path led along a nicely manicured pond or small lake. The geese there seemed particularly tame. If Grace were off of her leash, I believe she could have caught one. Grace liked the pond and went in several times. She pulled up an empty Sprite bottle. As we rounded a bend, Grace found a half-full bag of saltines. She proceeded to eat them all to satisfy her munchies. We continued down the path until finally we found the underpass that took us to the north side of Chatham. After we went through the tunnel, I decided it was past time to go back home. We could explore the north path which is supposed to lead to Bond Park some other time.
Morning Rest
We arrived home at 8:10. After a quick shower, Grace had a big drink of water followed by her breakfast. Despite the half bag of saltines, Grace polished off her breakfast with her usual fervor. After breakfast, Grace got up on the living room ottoman to wash herself and then retreated to her ottoman in the office to relax in the sunshine and watch for friends outside. At 8:30, she moved to the balcony.
Bingo!
Then it happened! All of her long hours of watching paid off. At 8:45, there was Olive. Grace was very excited. She hadn’t seen her little friend since Tuesday. Olive was excited too and ran up to meet her. They had a good a good time roughhousing and chasing. Flo was with Olive and joined in occasionally but mainly just stayed out of the way. They went down in the east woods area at the end of their playtime. Grace drank some water and waded around a bit. When we returned home at 10:10, Grace took another quick shower.
Betsy was vacuuming. The noise bothers Grace. She decided to head out to the balcony again. Grace wanted me to join her out there. The sunshine and 52 degree temperature at 11:00 was enough to make it comfortable. Grace rested until lunch. At 12:30, I gave her lunch. After lunch, I gave her a treat.
We’ve had an antler as a chew toy for many months. Grace could make only the slightest headway with it. After soaking it for a couple of hours, Grace in a matter of an hour made it through about one third of it. Grace then began to work on the antler. She made it through the soaked antler in less than an hour. Earlier in the day I had spoken with Olive’s owner about going together to the Salem Pond Park. At 1:30, she came to the door with Olive.
I Love to Play!
Grace was thrilled! This was the second time in a day that she could get together with her buddy Olive to play. We arrived at the park at 1:50. At the park, they ran out into the meadow. As with Fraggle, they had so much interesting things to see and do at the park, they went off separately for about ten minutes. Then Olive’s owner and I began to run. Grace and Olive followed. After about a mile and a half, a large friendly dog (Golden Retriever) came to join the fun. Grace could keep up, but that dog was too active and fast for Olive. Olive did follow us and Grace alternately. After about three miles, Olive ran out of gas.
I called Grace and she came. I’m using treats now to reinforce her good come behavior and motivate her more. We’re making some progress. The day was sunny and warm. Grace had a playmate still there. I decided to let her play longer. We didn’t leave until 4:15. By then, Grace had worn out three runners and three dogs. By the time Grace made it to the car though, she was ready for some serious napping. She curled up in the back seat and would have been content to stay there. Obedient as she is, she got up to go home.
Unwinding
As we headed back, here came Olive! Grace perked up to see her little buddy. Still, they were both worn to a frazzle. We went upstairs, and Grace had another bath to rinse off the pond smell. As I prepared my lunch, Grace said she would like a munchie. I gave her a treat. She then lay down on her sofa and fell fast asleep. Grace lay motionless as Betsy arrived home. She began to snore but was interrupted by a bang elsewhere in the building. At 5:30, Grace ate her supper. She wanted more. I gave her a dental chew.
At 6:00, we ate fried cod for supper. Betsy gave Grace a treat. Grace sat next to us as we ate and whimpered. I told her to wait. She responded obediently. I gave her a nice piece doing tricks for treats away from the dinner table. Grace enjoyed her treat and doing her tricks. Grace resumed working on the antler that I soaked. After thirty more minutes, she had consumed half of the remainder.
At 6:30 after consuming another small dental chew, Grace went out on the balcony to look for friends. I took her outside at 7:30. We returned at 7:50. Grace got up on the sofa and went to bed.