Doppler leads the good life. Her biggest daily decision is stay asleep or roll on her back for a belly rub? She barks sparingly.
That probably hasn’t been the case the past few days. After spending time couchsurfing with Bentley at Steve and Cheryl’s, Doppler moved on to sleepover camp. Camp features daily (and probably nightly) concerts with all the pups.
Doppler came home hoarse! This is a new one for me. Helaine caught on first when we got her around 7:00 AM. I heard it distinctly this afternoon as Doppler announced a neighbor at our door.
“Do you think she wants a lozenge,” Helaine asked this evening?
A few days rest and Doppler will be good as new. She’s working on that right now.
If today’s weather in Connecticut was the norm, everyone from California would move here! We have spectacular beauty close at hand. It’s the most stunningly picturesque place I’ve ever lived.
This afternoon Helaine and I went to one of our favorite pretty spots, Sleeping Giant State Park. We brought our short legged child, Doppler, with us.
The Tower Trail is 1.6 miles long. How many dog miles is that? This is a tough hike for Doppler!
When we arrived, the mountain’s parking lot was mostly full. That’s normally reserved for weekends. Today was that nice.
The trail was pretty crowded. There were runners from Hamden High School, a woman pushing a stroller with a crying baby, couples, singles and loads of dogs… dogs of every shape and size.
We planned to walk around halfway up to a pretty overlook. It’s been a while. None of us are aerobically fit today. Doppler was especially grateful to turn around and head back down.
When I posted an ‘in-progress’ Sleeping Giant photo on Facebook a few people wondered if we’d miss the mountain when we leave? Absolutely. Sleeping Giant is one of the coolest benefits of living where we do.
What I won’t miss are the few scattered spots where the mountain still has snow on April 8!
“She’s polite,” I said to Helaine this evening while explaining Doppler’s last trip outside.
Doppler was sleeping on the sofa. I was watching TV.
She got up, walked over and climbed vertically up my chest. She was perfectly positioned to lick my face. This is her way of telling me she’s got to go.
We walked to the front door. As I picked up her leash I realized its little reel of plastic bags was empty.
There was a minute or so of busy work to get more bags and put them in their enclosure. I looked down. Doppler was at my side, her head up, her butt down. Motionless. Waiting. Patient.
We took her shopping this afternoon. Doppler rode along in a travel bag. She didn’t balk. She didn’t kvetch. She was glad to go with us.
Good dog.
She is every bit the good dog her photos portray!
This is the one thing Helaine and I still have trouble believing. She is amazingly sweet and endearingly cooperative. She is a go along, get along companion.
She doesn’t even shed. That would be out of character!
We really did luck out when we rescued Doppler. She did OK too.
Over the past few weeks Doppler has become a dirty dog. It’s one of the uglier effects of a Connecticut winter. Today the schmutz has been put in its place. Doppler got a furcut!
This not a walk-in event. Helaine carries her. Doppler is apprehensive as soon as she hears the other dogs–their sing-a-long already in progress.
The results make it worthwhile. She’s white. She’s fluffy. She weighs a less.
“Like velvet,” said Helaine, while softly stroking Doppler’s neck.
Doppler, our 9.5 pound Maltese rescue, was at a loss until Helaine dug a trench
There’s now a 40″ snow report from our town, Hamden. I can believe it. The snow is deeper than anything I’ve ever seen before and I lived in Buffalo for four years!
Of course this presents a logistical dilemma. Doppler is approximately short. Our snow piles are approximately ginormous.
We’d convinced Doppler to piddle on our top step, but that was as far as she’d go. Twenty four hours have passed since… well, you know.
Because of my back surgery last summer (how long will this excuse last) Helaine dug a trench then an arena. Doppler was pleased. Though she usually has a full lawn at her disposal (for her disposal) she was glad to get what she got.
Naming rights to Doppler’s arena are available to the highest bidder. Act now, hopefully it won’t be here long.
We are all creatures of habit, none more than Doppler. That’s especially true when it comes to her visits to the front lawn.
We’ve just come back from Doppler doing a number one. The expectation was a three (one plus two).
“She’s working the system,” Helaine said.
That’s because Doppler knows an excursion to the lawn is always followed by a treat.
Once we come back into the house and I remove her leash, Doppler sprints to the family room where she waits in her crate for the reward. If I take too much time, like today when I began to chat with Helaine, Doppler will come into the kitchen to better gauge the hold-up.
We all know the drill. Doppler stands under the edge of the kitchen table looking up, wistfully. As soon as I begin to take her treat from the bag she turns toward the family room and hits the accelerator. There’s not enough traction on the hardwood floor.
It’s a cross between Fred Flintstone’s feet and some ‘drifting’ from a Vin Diesel movie.
We’ve seen it a thousand times. It never gets old!
We took Doppler shopping today. She accompanied us to Ikea in a camo bag slung over Helaine’s shoulder. A sign on the door said only Service Dogs were allowed. Doppler is Secret Service, Undercover Division.
I’m guessing they wouldn’t have bought that excuse had anyone asked. No one did.
Doppler was exceptionally good. After a brief attempt to let her paws hang out she settled back and took in the Swedish.
There’s a video attached to this entry showing Doppler’s pre-excursion excitement. Hyperactivity is the exception, not the rule for our puppy.
It got me to thinking about a few of Doppler’s idiosyncrasies.
Doppler must walk on the right… or from her perspective, you must be left of her. I have no idea why.
Doppler’s faster than me walking stairs. She’ll patiently wait for me upstairs then let me pass her so she can circle around and be on the right! She does it every time.
When we go outside for a walk Doppler’s also always on the right. She is adamant, even if I forget.
Today, when I gave her a large dog bone shaped treat she picked it up in her mouth then circled from the family room to the kitchen to the hallway past the front door and back into the family room. She made this circuit at least five times as Helaine and I watched and wondered.
This is not the first time she’s taken a bone on the grand tour of our ground floor.
Are these behavioral traits she was born with? Did she learn them?
Doppler came to us already grown up. We’ll never know.
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