My dog, aren’t you tired?

Well today I am going to tell a dogly tale, it’ll be short unless I can bulk it up about Max and our new neighbour dog (well I would say we are his new neighbours) but I digress, now the dog (met the owner, forgot to ask the dogs name) next door and Max the first day of meeting ran the length of the fence all day (up and down – the fence isn’t the great wall of China after all) – now this is not a sweeping ‘all day’ this is a literal all day, my god I got tired just watching them and the hideous next door dog is a barker – he is an Alsation (German Shepherd for those of you who don’t know what an Alsation is) so he has a super loud, deep, hurt your ears, bark and I was getting pissed after a few hours of listening to it without relief.

Every time I walked outside I got barked at and Max had done more exercise in that one day than I think he has in his entire life. This hideousness barks at every fathomable noise you could imagine, I think I heard an earthworm digging its way through to soil, or I would have if the neighbour’s dog wasn’t barking at the noise it was making as it dug. But I am glad to say now it is day 7 he doesn’t bark at me anymore but boy, it has only just stopped and he still barks when he hears me drive in. Just as well he has stopped because I didn’t want to have to do anything against my nature to him, but oh boy a constant barker is not a good thing.

Another dogly thing (which is quite horrible, yet amuses me so) is the Maxis and his inane inability to comfortably ascend (or descend) a flight of stairs. Now to give him a little grace these are outside stairs made from a piece of wood (like slats) and not fully enclosed, so I suppose at his height he can see himself plummeting the whole meter or so to his death and as he has never had any stair experience must be quite a trial for him. The reason I have observed this is the first couple of days I could not get him to come up the stairs, this is where his food bowl and water is so he did endeavour to climb the 4 steps to be able to have his food and water but when I actually saw him do it I laughed at loud (yes the horrible nasty streak I warned you about). He climbed said steps with a painful slowness and he was physically shaking (and by the way even though his speed has considerably improved, the shaking remains, mostly for the down journey he is ok in the up now).

It actually never occurred to me that he would have a problem after all who can’t walk a flight of steps? But as I mentioned I don’t think this it is so much the actual steps but the gaps between that scare the bejesus out of him. Not a lot I can do for him unfortunately, but in time he will become a champ at the stairs I am sure. To get me back for laughing he peed on the hose that I was filling the pool with so I had to wash the pee off the hose, naughty, naughty boy!!

Oh but one saving grace, someone today left the gate open (to the back yard) and when I came home Max came rushing up to say hi. All I can say is I am glad he is whipped and not an adventuresome dog, or I would have lost him and perhaps had to get him back from the pound (a costly exercise from past experience with my previous dog) or worse. But all is well he is back in the back yard after me telling him he was naughty and he should not run off even if the gate is open, I think we now have an understanding.