A Day in the Life of Mindy

I wake her up around 7:30. Once she gets out of her kennel, she heads for the kitchen for a drink of water. Sometimes she pauses by the food bowls. She is probably trying to figure out what to do next. We have a routine that we've followed her whole life, but she forgets what she was doing sometimes. Finding herself in the kitchen doorway, I think she can't remember if she was coming or going...time to pee or time to eat. Usually, if I nudge her in the right direction, she'll head for the door. She may do some stretching while all this goes on. Riveting, huh? Once on the porch, there is another "where am I?" moment. This could be because she's blind and deaf or she may have doggie dementia...I'll bet it's both, bless her heart. Then she waddles across the porch to the ramp Lee built her and does her business in the yard. After all the poking around she did getting outside, she is now fully awake and ready to pester me to insanity until I take care of her. She sure can do her morning yard business fast and get back up that ramp to the door. She taps on the front glass door with her nails until I let her in, she wants her treat, and wants her food immediately after that. If ignored, she stomps around the kitchen beneath my feet, knowing I will break my own neck before stepping on her. Sometimes it's just best to drop everything and get it all out of the way at once, even though I think it's ridiculous that she thinks food should follow her treat. This is not how she was raised! You can't reason with her. It simply will not work anymore. After eating, it's nap time. Can you believe it? She has a huge dog be in the living room. I hate it, but I want her to have a change of scenery, other than her kennel, so I have keep this in our living room for her to sleep on during the day. The idea was that it is big enough for all the dogs. Mindy lays dead center. It's clearly her bed. Ruby got sick and threw up on it last night. Mindy is not pleased this morning. She's in Oliver's kennel right now and Oliver has been forced to lay in Ruby's kennel. Ruby is rolled up in her Snuggie on the couch. Anytime Mindy gets out of bed for the rest of the day, you have to be on your toes. The phrase "She's on the move" is an alert that she is up and therefore needs to be routed outside after her drink to pee. Unlike the demands for food, she won't ask to go out anymore. She just stands around for a while and, if ignored, she'll do her business where she right there. Thank goodness we don't have carpet anymore. When it's time for bed, around 10PM, she suddenly has her wits about her. She finds me, asks to go out, wants a bedtime snack, and usually goes to sleep. She has her bad night, too, though. She will go out the door, turn around and tap on the glass, like she's done. Lies...all lies! I have to make her go down the ramp. After being tucked in, sometimes she wants a drink or to run around the living room/kitchen partition. Hilarious! She's like a little kid that doesn't want to go to sleep. This whole scenario cracks me up, so I let her act a fool, then put her back to bed. These dogs are a mess! Caesar Milan couldn't fix this old wiener dog. Oliver is looking more and more low maintenance as the years pass...now that we got rid of all the carpet that he liked to mark. He is a little escape artist though. He can unlock his kennel from the inside. Ruby could use some therapy. She's so anxious....I think she gets it from me. She learned my social anxiety or something. I always thought, "What's one more dog?" Now we want to travel, and with each of them getting older and more ornery, I see that having more than one dog can be quite foolish.