Tierce enjoyed Canada Day. We went down to Nanaimo’s downtown and ended up at Maffeo-Sutton Park and Swy-A-Lana Lagoon. Tierce enjoyed splashing around in the water at the Lagoon.
He doesn’t like actual swimming, but will paddle about, run through the water and try to grab things floating in it as long as the water is only chest height. There has only been one instance of him actually leaving the comfort of the bottom to swim for a stick and he hasn’t repeated the experiment. The bridge in the top photo has steps on the other side that lead to a rocky area where Tierce could run without clotheslining people.
In the course of the day, we had many people ask, “What kind of dog is that?”, comment that, “It looks like a little fox!” and ask if they could pet Tierce. Tierce was distracted by the crowds, but was mostly polite to people and deigned to sniff hands and in one case lick the cheek of a toddler who was regarding him rather seriously.
Tierce has been having some problems with itching again. It’s not as bad as last time, but is sufficient to thin the hair around his eyes and forehead and give me an attack of the screaming meemies every time he starts chewing on his forelegs. He has a vet appointment on Friday. I’m wondering if the Atopica is a little too heavy to use on this, as it seemed to come as soon as the heat of summer set in and may just be a pollen issue that an allergy shot would cure. I do love the Atopica – it solved his problems last time, but if something milder would help him, then I’d rather do that. I’d like to get an Aloe Vera plant and see if it helps cool his skin down. Of course, he might just lick it off parts of his body he can reach.
The neutering incision healed up perfectly and I flatter myself that Tierce is being less of an asshole around other dogs. He met a male Doberman today that he was trying to play with. I have hesitated thus far at letting him into the dog park again. On leash is one thing; off leash and having unrestricted access to balls and sticks is another.
It flabbergasts me, though, how many people allow or encourage their dogs to come up to a strange dog without asking if said dog is okay with other dogs. If I’m pulling my dog back, sticking my leg out or telling my dog to keep his nose to himself, does that say to you, “Why my dog just loves other dogs! By all means, let yours come up and tangle his leash with mine.” I’ve had to tell people that Tierce isn’t good with other dogs – he mostly is, but people who assume strange dogs are universally friendly often assume the same of their own dogs when the opposite is patently true.
We came home fairly early – we had run down to the downtown area from mid-city and had walked around for a couple of hours, so we were pretty tired. I confess that it’s nice to have a boyfriend with his own car when your legs are telling you that you’ve run 6 km yesterday and run/walked between 5 and 10 km today. Tierce should sleep well tonight; I know I will.
