- Day 1 - Friday
Okay to start, don't get me wrong, I LOVE my parents dog, but we had to watch her this weekend and that was an exercise in patience. I show up Friday afternoon with my computer and my toys with the anticipation of a weekend of gaming on my parents 46" LCD TV. First thing I did was run the dog around the house and get her to "do her business". With that out of the way I figured I was in the clear for a few hours. I get the living room all re-arranged, get my self comfortable and sit down to play when I hear my first whimper. Apparently all of that excitement had also powered up Makayla's little bladder. So we go for a short walk, just up the street and back. We do some more business and now I have totally convinced myself that I am good to go. Time to start played some World of Warcraft and enjoying my day off.
I settle into my chair, log into the game and begin to start some of my dailies. I finally had a chance to really enjoy the weekend ahead of me. Well Makayla sensing that I am now playing with something that was not her decides that she wants to play. She gets busy inspecting all of the new things in the house and decided what she should chew on, the cords of my computer. She gets a real kick out of how upset I get when her puppy teeth of doom go near my new computer. Finally she has discovered a new game, get Patrick all upset! So as a try to play video games; talk to the Samsung support guy trying to figure out why the TV won't pump audio out Makayla is chewing on wires. She eventually settled down and decided to take a nap because she knew she had a long night of keeping me and Tina awake. So Tina gets home from work about 10ish and I prepare Makayla for her long walk. We go out walking around the neighborhood and find out a few things about Makayla that we previously did not know. First, she likes to take one large poo, and then leave little nuggets all over the neighborhood. What this means for the walker like Tina and myself? If she poo's right as you start your walk and you use the little baggie thing right away, don't toss it in the trash! Makayla forces you to carry the bag the entire time. That’s right, carry my poo and if you throw this gift I have given you in the trash, don't fret I can make more! Aren’t puppies fun? Next, Makayla does not like dark gutters, actually she does not like the big drains at all. Those are scary things and should be avoided at all costs. In fact, as a rule, its better to put your butt down and refuse to move until a more acceptable route is found by your walkers. Seriously those things are scary, stay away from them, or force them to drag you kicking and screaming. In addition to this, Makayla likes to play with your head; she has the exact same motion when she reaches down to sniff some debris on the ground as she does when she is ready to deposit her little gifts. We finish the walk and head back to settle down. As Friday night comes to a close Tina and I cannot decide if she gets caged at night or if she is allowed to run about the room. Well, I figured if she was used to going into a cage at night she would not have protested nearly as much as she was. But, Tina insisted, after 40 minutes of "Whimper, Whimper Whimper" I let her out of the cage and finally we can sleep. Wow, day one was exciting, but with Mom and Dad missing maybe this was just a "settling in period". Ha. I wish. I let her out of the cage, which I would find out later means that I was conned by a dog.
- Day 2 - Saturday
5:00 AM. The whimpering has officially commenced. Tina gets out of bed, lets her outside and comes back about 15 minutes later. Makayla is forced into the cage in hopes that we can get some sleep. Upset at a lack of results 25 minutes later, Makayla settles down to make a new plan to get out of the cage and once again become the center of attention.
6:30 AM.
Makayla: "Whimper, Whimper" I need out of this cage guys "Whimper Whimper"
Patrick: [Half Asleep] "Tina...I think..."
Tina: "Thats impossible she was just outside an hour an a half ago."
Makayla: You think I don't know that? Its SATURDAY morning, cartoons are coming on soon! Let me out! "Whimper Whimper"
Tina: "Alright, I am gonna let her out again, maybe she missed something"
Tina leaves early in the morning and I am awoken about 10:30 by more sounds of a desire to leave this cage. So I get up, and let her out. We run around the house, do some more business and go inside for food, drink, and some well needed playtime. I figure that since she didn't sleep much last night she should be overdue for a puppy nap. I was not wrong, but I did severely underestimate how long puppy naps last. Once again I am enjoying playing WoW when the internet reminds me by slowing to a crawl that Makayla needs a walk. So Makayla and I go exploring. We go back into the neighborhood behind my parent’s house. Once here Makalya protests to almost every turn and especially does not like having to leave barking dogs before she has finished her conversation. After about 45 minutes of quality walking time we decide to make our way back to the house. Once there Makayla realizes very quickly that she is being lifted and taken upstairs. Do you know what’s upstairs? THE CAGE! I did a little experiment and hooked up a webcam with a new iPhone app I got so I can spy on her while I am at work. She barks and whimpers as I leave the house, and when I get to work I check back in on her and she has settled down. I think that is a good idea that she has finally relaxed, once again, I failed to realize that this was simply her saving her energy to annoy me. She slept ALL DAY.
It was a really nice night and I had seen some houses that I wanted to show Tina during Makayla and my earlier outing. I had picked up some beers on the way home, and was thawing some steaks for me and Tina to enjoy as grilled food is a rare delicacy for her and I. Tina gets home and I tell her that we should take Makayla for a walk so I can show her some of the houses I found. Well once again we discover that Makayla DOES not like dark places and DOES not like going off the beaten path. Tina and I are checking out the back of houses and Makalya was very sure to remind us that "Hey, its really dark back here, you can barely see these houses and you look like cat-burglars shining this flashlight about in dark places. We should leave." Finally the protesting takes a very sit down grass roots approach. She just refuses to go any direction she does not feel is home. She quickly realizes that this will not work; she is not heavy enough for this to work as she would like. If only her uncle had been a Great Dane. But, while in the arms of this silly human she decides grunts, whines, snorts and a good dose of drool would get her point across. Sadly, it worked. We headed home.
On the way home Tina and I are talking about the families dogs when Tina says one of those things that at the time seems really mundane, but later you realize that you prolly should not have uttered. Tina asks me "If these dogs are supposed to be water dogs why does Ben not love the water? Do you think Makayla will enjoy the pool this summer?" Oh Tina, I love you but you really need to watch what you say. Once home I season the "steaks" and head down to fire up the grill and get to making this WONDERFUL dinner. Once down there I fire up the grill and throw the "steaks" on. Realizing that I have left my cooking supplies upstairs I open the downstairs door and yell to Tina "Hey can you get my flipper and a knife?" While I am trying to enunciate the proper message to Tina, Makayla takes this opportunity to run full speed down the stairs across the basement and out the door before I can shut it. Once outside "Keep away has begun!" This is a game that if you have not had the opportunity to play this with Makayla you really should. It's more fun downstairs because on her way across the tarp covering the pool Makayla realizes that if she runs across the pool she makes lots of splashes and gets all wet. Keep away has become "I get wet, and you make a futile attempt to catch me." Makayla loves this game, and is only done playing it when she decides she is done. After her 15th or 16th lap she is soaking wet and Tina has arrived with a towel. Needless to say she was one WET dog. We were able to run her down, dry her off and Tina and I sat down for dinner. Makayla did us the favor of going to sleep to save her energy so that she would be able to bother us all night...or so we thought. After coming in from dinner I find Makayla in the living room MUNCHING down on some glasses. I pick them up, ask Tina if they were her's which she assures me they are not so I set them on the dry sink and head to bed.
Unlike the previous night, Tina and I were not about to be conned by a dog. In the cage Makayla went! Well as we lay down to relax more whimpering, but Tina and I were going to keep out resolve strong. Makayla settled down and I passed out.
- Day 3 – Sunday
At five am my alarm went off and Tina and I got up to let out the dog. She runs out, does her "duty". I come inside to find Tina holding the glasses from the previous night, "Yeah, these are my glasses...great" Now the neat thing about glasses that I did not know is that the part where they slide your ear holder thing over is actually a sharp metal point. I have an idea on how to fix this dilemma and so at five in the morning I head into the garage, break out the bench grinder and start having my way with Tina’s glasses. I was able to bend them back into shape, put the missing lens back in, and dull the point to a minor stub. While still rather uncomfortable, Tina no longer has to worry about stabbing her skull while putting them on. We head back to bed, and re-cage Makayla. Well the whimpering displays have turned into full blown crying. To the point where were fairly sure (thanks to a handy dandy webcam) that Makayla is enjoying the sound of her own voice. She is belting them across the hall. Out of options, Tina and I move our sleeping arrangements into my old bedroom and get a few more hours of sleep. Thank God! We wake up at about noon and let the dog out. We clean the house, get everything back in order. Take her for one last short walk and pack up to head out to finish our weekend.
Despite all that happened, and how difficult everything can be, I have missed the stupid dog all week long. That’s right I said it, I have missed her company, her constant desire to please, and her incessant scheming of new and interesting ways to annoy me.
It was a good weekend.
