Spinner!

Let me start by saying if you don’t have a dog – STOP READING! This won’t be at all amusing to you.

If you have a dog, you may get a chuckle out of this – but it’s not guaranteed.

If you have a dog that spins several times before it takes a crap – read on… you’ll feel me!

The other night, after a week of beautiful Spring weather, my sweetie and I were enjoying dinner at one of our favorite noodle haunts and we noticed a woman walk in with an umbrella. Hal and I looked at her, looked at each other and then took a minute to register that it could indeed be raining out. We exchanged a few words in disbelief, paid our bill and headed home with our left overs in hand.

We began the regular evening ritual of being greeted by our three flat faced animals. Two of them are a bit more enthusiastic as they are dogs; the other lifted her sleepy head to acknowledge us – you guessed it, our cat.

After the dogs ate their food (as if they hadn’t been fed in a week) we headed out: dogs leashed up, poop bags in pocket… Hal and I paused, looked at the umbrella, looked at each other and decided since it’s just misty out, we don’t need it.

Taking the dogs out is usually a five to ten minute proposition. We have two areas of ivy that our dogs use as their dumping ground. There is a very set routine that has been established, reviewed and approved by all that are involved.

About 50 yards from the door we experienced a bit of a pick up in the rain. Hal and I weighed the time it would take to go back and get the umbrella against the time it usually takes for the Pugs to do their business and chose to forge on!

There must be a new, large pack of male dogs in the neighborhood that marked every corner of our trusted rout, because despite the now DRIVING rain, Simcha and Auggie were terribly distracted. Us humans were meanwhile getting soaked! I pointed to the sunglasses on top of my head and said to Hal,”hey look, these’ll help!”

Well, Simcha finally ‘did her thing’, but Auggie was dragging his feet… Believe me, when I’ve given them ample opportunity and they don’t produce, I’ll head for home; but sometimes there are ‘telling’ signs that they really need to go (ie: you can see the proverbial ‘head of the turtle’) and this was the case this evening.

Like I mentioned before, they are accustomed to crapping in the ivy, which is super cool because the way I look at it is if it’s in the ivy… I don’t see it, it didn’t happen, there’s nothing to pick up. (is that bad?) So, FINALLY Auggie pops in the ivy and starts to spin, which means it’s a done deal. Any minute we will be inside, out of the rain and taking hot showers, because it’s not just raining – it’s freakin cold out too!

I yell, “Okay Auggie, you’ve spun around three times as many times as usual, I’d fall over dizzy by now!” We’re in total amazement of how many times he’s spun and how wet we are when Hal shouts, “It’s practically falling outta you, you crazy little dog! Let’s do this!!!”

I should have known not to congratulate this dog until his good deed had actually been completed, because the high happy voice of praise slapped him right out of his tail spin and out he jumped from the ivy to continue his search for the pack of hounds that had driven through these parts uninvited.

Hal and I fell apart! Why didn’t we grab the umbrella? Why was I wearing sunglasses? How could he not have gone by now? It was literally falling out of him! Really? Is this really happening tonight, in this driving rain, not to just one of us – but both? All we could do was laugh and wait for him to find his next landing strip. He finally did, with another unusually long pre-spin effort. We stood silently watching, holding in our elation as to not disturb his concentration.

Upon finishing we hooped and hollered and ran the little guys home as fast we could. With my pants having grown about five inches from being completely soaked, I was a bit handicapped – so I tried my best not to eat dirt in our scurry. In the door, we quickly dried their furry little bodies. This activity winds – them – up! They started their “Rocket Dog” routine, by which they tuck their butts under, pin their ears back and run like the dickens! Puppies again!

I quickly rid myself of my wet clothes and, Hal being a gentleman, aloud me to pop into the shower first. The steam of the water was so inviting and I backed up to the shower head, experiencing the full, direct exposure – heat that can only come from a head of hair full of hot water (you ladies with long hair know what I’m talking about)… Completely satisfied with my current state of warmth, I reached up to push the water back off my face and as I ran my hands to the top of my head I startled – and yelled, “oh shit!” Hal came in to see what was the matter only to find my hand sticking out from behind the shower curtain holding my sunglasses.

April 4, 2010. Uncategorized.