Pet bulls are spoiled. Not spoiled as in out of control, ill-mannered heathens and needing the canine version of Nanny 911; but spoiled along the lines of royalty. Think young Princes William and Harry; knowing that their behavior must always be exemplary, yet at the same time realizing that they hold an important place in the world. Knowing that their world revolves around them. So it is with the pet bull; always under pressure to put one’s best paw forward - yet at the same time, secure with one’s place in the world.
Take Veronica for instance, she is secure in the knowledge that on Momma’s day off; her place is with Momma. Since I work Monday through Thursday, Friday’s are “our day”. This is not to imply that there is always something exciting planned. More often than not it is simply life as usual. Like today…life as usual.
I roused Veronica around 9:00 am. I had gotten up earlier and checked out some things on the computer, but Veronica likes to sleep in when she can. After getting up I took her for a quick peep and poop and then off we went next door to Grammy’s for breakfast. Veronica loves breakfast at Grammy’s, Grammy taught her the “better deal” game. That is where one completely ignores their morning bowl of kibble and waits for Grammy to offer her a few succulent morsels from her breakfast…or if Grammy isn’t eating anything enticing to little dog palates then Grammy will make V. her “peanut butter cookie”. Probably not the best choice for V.’s waistline, but I have 2 choices. I can either graciously allow Grammy to spoil her one and only “grandchild”; or I can protest and listen to Grammy accuse me of trying to turn the dog into an anorexic - which would eventually lead to my killing Grammy. (And I’m not certain that 3 seasons of Dexter qualifies me to dispose of a body).
Anyway, Grammy was scheduled for a hair appointment today, so the rest of the day was just the 2 girls: me and V. As usual Veronica went back to bed after breakfast (and by bed; I mean My bed…or technically Our bed) and waited for me to get ready. Then after a brushing, a tooth brushing and an ear cleaning Veronica also was ready.
First order of business was to take a short walk. Being as it was about 85 degrees I was quite lucky to get Veronica to go along with the program. I jazzed her up in the beginning by popping by the Shaggy Chic Pet Boutique to see if her birthday collars were in yet. Maybe next week. Veronica got to say a quick hello to her friend Jake the pit bull. This is always a treat for Veronica since her doggy friends can be counted on 1 paw, and that still leaves a toe or two open. In her defense, she’d have allot more doggy friends if they recognized her as the royalty she is and showed a proper amount of deference - but this being America apparently even the dogs are into democracy and equality and all that crazy stuff.
Veronica very reluctantly completed our walk, but I cheered her on at the end with a few upbeat reminders about getting to her car and having a drink. Then we were off on our second errand of the day; getting a lube, oil and filter. I called ahead to see if V. was welcomed as I was going to a new dealership (seeing as how my usual one disappeared over night) and they said they were dog friendly. We then sat in a teeny tiny, barely air conditioned waiting room for over an hour. Veronica threw herself on the floor in disgust and sulked. I threw myself in a chair, realized there was not a magazine to be had and the television was turned to Fox news (and me being an MSNBC girl) and sulked.
The dealership was a novel experience for Veronica because she was pretty much ignored. At our previous dealership she held court; and was thus treated like the royalty she knows she is. Women came out from behind the glass window to give her treats, salesman, mechanics passing by stopped to give her a scratch. Today…well, I can’t say "no attention at all". One mechanic made it a point to give her a scratch behind the ears, and a manager said “Hello” to her and told her what a pretty, good girl she was. Veronica got so excited her whole body vibrated, but when he didn’t come out from behind the counter to actually touch her, she nailed me with a re-directed kiss. (Have you seen those? I’m guessing it’s the same dynamic as a re-directed bite; only with affection instead of aggression. When people give Veronica verbal attention but don’t actually come over and physically connect with her, she’ll get so wound up that she needs to let loose that kissing energy and put it somewhere…so she’ll turn to me and plant one on me).
After leaving the dealership, I considered another walk, but it was still hot out. I thought about going to the pet store to pick up some treats for agility; but seeing as it was so hot out I didn’t want to wear her out since she had agility class at 7.00Pm. So we went home, had an early dinner, one of us had a nap and then we headed out to Agility class.
Veronica did, overall well. She was the fastest dog in class. Of course there were only 3 other dogs in class and none of them were Border Collies…but still. She only had two episodes of launching into a rendition of The Who’s “I’m Free” and surprisingly was re-directed to the A-Frame both times.
And that was our Friday. Pretty typical. We came home from Agility and Veronica passed out. Me and Dear husband watched the last episode of Dexter Season 3 in solemn reverence and now I have to rouse my sleepy dog to take her to do her business and bring her to bed.
That's it...a day in the life.
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