One of my proudest accomplishments with Stranger is training him to wait until I wake up, rather than be woken up. Every morning, I wake up and after a few lazy belly rubs, I let the mutt outside for a couple minutes. I make some coffee, and Stranger no longer growls as the coffee maker gurgles. Maybe, he no longer feels threatened by its inanimate essence, and maybe he’s just gotten sick of me laughing at him as he tries to pick a fight with my morning rub. I give him some water but wait about an hour to feed him (this may have something to do with why I no longer wake on his terms). Lately it’s usually too hot to take him on a daytime walk, so instead, I have gotten into the habit of taking my cigarette break outside, using it as fetch time. So the first half of the day is filled with 15 minute sessions of fetch. It’s one of my favorite things to receive the morning with him. We see it so differently. I’m sketching to-do lists in my mind, while he is frantic with curiosity about the white butterfly roaming around, or slight and significant changes in scent that make him roll around on his back in happy delirium. Then, I give him 2 cups of Orijen adult dog food that he proceeds to eat over the next hour.  I sit at my computer, check my mail, horoscope, yada yada while he proceeds to investigate the house for any changes or threats.  I view this as a brave and protective act, how sometimes he feels in charge of my security.

As I cook lunch and run errands, Stranger either follows me around or naps or chews on a toy.  Around 6 or 7 in the afternoon (depending on the heat), I take him to the dog park.  We probably go to the dog park every other day, followed by a walk on the adjacent trail.  On weekends, we go down to the woods and river and let him run around unleashed while maintaining strict limits on how far away from us he can go.  And again and again, I witness and envy his relationship to nature, how aware and curious he is of it, of how much he sees in a single foot of flame brush.

We come home, and Stranger eats another cup of dog food.  I prepare dinner or do some more work.  By this point, he is tired and calm.  Sometimes, I watch a movie and he snuggles by my side.  Then, bedtime!  He usually falls asleep by the bed a couple hours before I’m ready to call it a day.

Since I started to work from home, I’ve been lucky enough to get a lot of time with Stranger.  We’ve established a very steady routine together, and I think it’s brought us much closer.  I’m sure much of this sounds mundane, and I hope I haven’t bore you, but it’s companionship in the simplest tides that keep us close and strong, allow us to see the world through each other’s eyes.

Some romance, huh?

Do you have a routine with your dog?  Tell me, what’s the highlight of your day?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 at 2:41 am and is filed under K9 Amiga. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.