Getting Back to Normal

 

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:

Border collies ARE creative!

If that answer isn't a definition of heaven, I don't know what is.

I hope that this doesn't give Olive any ideas for when I take her to "Lucky Lou's".