Day 4946

We made it through our first day. I hate to see Dawn sad, but if she had her way, neither of us would ever leave the house. As I expected, Dawn refuses to take a walk and seems nervous even going outside to pee. At least she is still eating. Dinner and her evening snack are fairly normal because I've always fed her those meals. Breakfast is a bit of a challenge though. Typically Dawn gets up with Janet and follows her out to the kitchen. Janet takes her outside to pee and fixes her breakfast before I'm even out of bed. Now she doesn't know what to do.

She refuses to come out to the kitchen and eat breakfast with me. She won't even get off the bed while I'm trying to make it. The last time Janet went on vacation Dawn would eat her breakfast if I left her bowl on the bedroom floor. That didn't work today. I eventually had to place the bowl on the bed with her and then leave the room. Ten minutes later the bowl was empty and she got her morning meds. 

I wish I could tell Dawn that everything is going to be OK and that Janet will be back soon. It doesn't work that way though. Dawn will act like she lost her only friend until Janet eventually walks through the front door again. I guess it all makes sense in a weird way. Dawn spent most of her life as a breeding dog in a kennel run by two older men. I don't think she will ever trust men. Janet was the one who rescued her while I was away at a launch in Florida. They bonded immediately and in Dawn's mind I'm probably just Janet's assistant. We do the best we can when Janet is away, but she's always been a nervous dog. I do think Dawn is trying and I understand as well. I get nervous too when life throws me a curve ball.

It's still too hot for my long walk in the park, to I went to the gym again after breakfast. I had to walk a little further on the indoor track because there was no sunrise walk with Dawn. I got my steps though and shot some baskets before I returned home again. I thought Dawn might come out and join me for lunch because she always gets some sliced turkey with Janet at lunchtime. Dawn loves sliced turkey. I got the turkey out and called her, but Dawn still refused to leave the bedroom. Oddly, she was happy enough to go out in the back yard with me after I finished my sandwich. This is something we always do, so I guess it seemed normal to her. Dawn loves to lounge in the sun and roll in the grass. We stayed outside for about ten minutes and then Dawn was off to the bedroom again.

We'll follow this weird little routine for the rest of the week. Dawn still needs her bedtime snack, but I know she'll come out and eat that. This is something we do every evening. We'll take a final trip outside to pee before bed and then she'll reluctantly let me join her on the bed after I get finished with today's blog post. I don't know how she can spend so much time on that bed. Even I have my limits when it comes to napping.

At least it didn't rain today. Rain would only complicate things further because Dawn doesn't like to get wet. It's hard enough to get her to go outside and pee as it is. I don't think she's drinking enough water either, but I make sure her bowls are always filled with fresh water. Jeez. How do you make a dog drink water? Dawn will gradually adjust to things as the week rolls on. It's a slow process though. I wish I could make it easier for her.

Keller is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4464

Today was busy. It's easy for me to forget how many aspects of Dawn's life that Janet takes care of. I was finally able to get Dawn to do everything she needed to do, but it wasn't easy. I've never seen a dog so totally focused on a single person. Without her best friend nearby, Dawn seemed lost. She was pathetic and sad all day. The only way I could get her to eat was to go to to the opposite end of house after I fixed her meals. When Dawn was sure I wasn't anywhere near her food and water bowls, she would finally venture out of the bedroom and eat. She wouldn't leave the bedroom at all for her meds. I had to bring each pill back to the bed covered in cream cheese. She was reluctant to go outside and pee but I knew she couldn't hold it forever. We were a little off schedule today but I was able to get her to go outside with me on a leash. I didn't even try to get her to poop until later in the morning. She has a favorite place in a field behind our house and it took quite a while to get Dawn to work up her nerve to leave the backyard without Janet nearby. Maybe it helps that I'm usually the one who walks her. I've been doing this for months with this trip in mind.

Hopefully Dawn will start to relax a bit in the days ahead. It's going to be a long week if she stays as frightened as she was today. I was glad that she was OK with sleeping with me. She usually sleeps in the middle between Janet and me, so as long as she was on one side of the bed and I was all the way on the other, we maintained an uneasy truce. If I get too close, she starts to cry. Even with all these difficulties it is still much better for Dawn to be here than at a kennel somewhere. The house is her territory now. She loves our house and yard. I'm just kind of in the way. Dawn tolerates me when Janet is around, but I don't think I'm that important to her. Janet is the love of her life and I'm some kind of kennel attendant that takes care of a few basic chores.

If you saw how scared the puppy mill dogs the rescue group just picked up are, you'd start to understand what Dawn has gone through for most of her life. She was born in the same puppy mill kennel and spent nine years there as a breeding dog. In the grand scheme of things life in a regular home is still very new to her. To say that she has trust issues with men would be a giant understatement.

I'm still hoping that Dawn will eventually learn to trust me. It's going to take a lot of patience because Dawn hasn't had many good things happen to her in her life. She's really a wonderful dog and she deserves to relax and enjoy the rest of her life. Janet loves to travel and I prefer to stay around the house, so it would be great for everyone if Dawn could realize that I want to be her friend.

Dealing with Dawn took most of the day, but I was still able to go on my long walk, take a shower, and work with the star tracker some more. I think Dawn likes it when I take my long walks. She has the house completely to herself for two hours. She's very comfortable being alone. I watch her on the petcam sometimes while I'm out walking and she seems completely relaxed.

The latest version of the star tracker software is finally getting there. I had very few problems today. Some of the things that crashed the app before seem to have gotten fixed. I guess the next step is to take it outside at night and take some pictures. Some of the people in the Polaris support group are already getting good pictures. I'm just a little slower at mastering this thing.

Dawn has two more things to do before we're done for the day. She gets a late night snack at 10:15 PM and then goes out to pee one final time before bed. She's not a happy camper right now, but I think she did pretty good for her first day without Janet.

Carmine is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day