It has been a few months since I reported on Olive’s surgery
last October.
I am happy to say that Olive is doing quite well since her
surgery. There was a spot where the fur wasn’t growing back, but even that
seems to have grown in. There are a few signs that Olive is starting to get
older; she seems a bit more reluctant to go up and down stairs, but otherwise
she is acting like she is still a puppy.
I have even started letting her play just a bit with the foam
rubber Frisbee, giving her very gentle easy tosses to catch out on the grassy
field behind my unit. She seems ok without the challenging tosses I used to
give her before the problems began last fall. She seems more interested in the
other two games she would play: the “chase me” game (which seems more like a “follow
me” game as she is not going as fast as she used to) and the “ha-ha you can’t
have it” game in which she will put the Frisbee down as if she wants me to toss
it, then grabs it and moves off when I try to pick it up. The whole series
doesn’t last as long as it once did; she is ready to go inside after just a few
gentle tosses and goes in when I tell her to.
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I had lunch with a friend recently at a restaurant in the historic
section of a nearby town called “Lucky Lou’s”. Yes, that sounds like the name
of a cheap bar, but the place is upscale, has a very nice outdoor dining patio,
and though the food is very good and the prices are reasonable it is not particularly cheap. While having
lunch I noticed some people who brought their dog onto the patio with them.
Then the dog ate out of a bowl the waiter brought. When I inquired, I was told
that the restaurant offers a special menu for dogs!
Olive’s eleventh birthday comes on August 1. I just may take
her there for a birthday dinner. She seems to like salmon and chicken; when I
grill chicken, I usually put a piece aside without seasoning then cut it up so
she can have some. When I grill salmon, I save the skin for her after cutting
it up, checking for bones, and letting it cool.
I think I will have to draw the line at ordering a glass of chardonnay, rose, or cabernet for my
dog, however.😉
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Some neighbors have recently acquired a golden retriever
puppy they named “Apollo”. Olive seems to have taken a liking to Apollo, which
I am pleased about. While Olive is not a quarrelsome dog by any means, she has
in the past shown some annoyance with puppies. A few times I thought I saw an “oh,
no, not that puppy again” look to Olive, but Olive seems to understand that I
want her and Apollo to be friends. She has been polite to Apollo, for which I
have been praising her.
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On a sad note, Olive’s friend Lenny, a cattle dog mix, has
passed away. Olive and Lenny got along very well, so well that her people and I
used to joke about them being boyfriend and girlfriend. I think Olive misses
Lenny in that she still looks toward the unit Lenny lived in as we walk past. I
regret that I don’t have any photos of Lenny.
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Here are a few bits of border collie humor I have collected recently:
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| Border collies ARE creative! |
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| If that answer isn't a definition of heaven, I don't know what is. |
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| I hope that this doesn't give Olive any ideas for when I take her to "Lucky Lou's". |
