It’s been a while since I’ve really talked about my dogs.
And how much I love them.
And how much I want to strangle them at times.
Yesterday I picked up my daughter from daycare at the normal time. The provider met me at the door.
“I think that she might be running a fever. She was fine this morning, but when she got up from the afternoon coffee break” (that’s what she calls naps) “she never really got up. She just walked into the living room and lay down on the floor.”
That is unusual for my daughter. Normally she’s practically a force of nature at daycare. She never stops moving, never stops playing. When she gets up from a nap only to lay down on the ground when she’d otherwise have an opportunity to play, that’s when you know something is really wrong. While I bundle her up, the provider runs upstairs to fetch her thermometer. Sure enough, she’s reading at 102.
“Do a regime of Tylenol and Motrin tonight. If she’s still spiking in the morning above 100, I’m going to have to ask you to keep her at home.”
Sure enough, her temperature was elevated this morning. Not as high as yesterday afternoon, but her overall clinginess and the temperature prompted a parental decision to keep her at home.
With me.
We’re trying to save up as much of my wife’s sick time as possible for the upcoming birth of our second daughter. Really we’re both saving up time, but hers is the most important one. So when situations like this arise and I don’t have anything major in the pipeline for the next few days, I take the PTO day and look after my child.
Now that I’m an experienced parent, I can say that it’s not all that difficult, really. Especially when the child is just kind of ill. More than likely the child will be a little sluggish, which allows you the parent to keep multiple steps ahead of the little bundle of germs.
My complicating factor lies with my dogs.
I have two, with two very different personalities. One’s extremely cautious, but overly enthusiastic all the time. She won’t really wander too far away from me, even when off leash and given the opportunity, but she will take every chance she can to give you a little kiss or twelve hundred. The other dog is generally much more laid back (except around delivery men) and gentle. But he’s an escape artist, constantly probing any perimeter for weakness.
In two years, he’s escaped over a half-dozen times. Each of our parents have accidentally left a door open just a smidge too long, or turned their back at just the right moment and BAM! he’s gone. The last few times, however, he’s stopped exploiting the weakness of his humans, and started exploiting the weakness of our back yard.
In any case, I’ve got a sick child and two dogs who have been conditioned by two years of working out of my home for regularly schedule potty breaks. Very well conditioned. And my wife won’t be home until 5 at the earliest.
Now, during our recent renovations to the back yard, I took some precautions that I though would make the back yard escape proof. Every dog-sized hole was barred with heavy stone and cinder block. the fence and gate were inspected for weak and rotting wood. So I felt confident that the darn dog would stay put this time, should I place him back there to do his business.
And that’s what I did. During my daughter’s snack time, I opened the back door leading to the yard and ushered the dogs on through.
Problem. Solved.
Twenty minutes later, my daughter was done with her little snack, and it was time to let the dogs back in.
I open the door again, and one dog immediately pops through.
I wait, but no other one comes in.
I glance around the back yard…and find no trace of my dog.
Crap. On. Toast.
Searching for a dog in your neighborhood when you’ve got one frantic companion dog and a toddler and no other adult help in the household is a tricky affair. You need to form a posse and do it quickly. This I did. I grabbed up a few neighbors that I thought the dog might not run away from, called my wife to tell her to come home to help, and then proceeded out with my other dog and my toddler in hand.
We were probably out there for another twenty minutes or so searching. Eventually I see my wife in her car and flag her down.
“Go home and switch into the other car. Come back and take our daughter. I’ll move faster without a toddler in tow.”
She nods and drives off to get the car equipped with a car seat. In the mean time I reconnoiter with the people helping me to search.
A few minutes later my pocket starts buzzing. It’s my wife, who just got home.
“He’s here.” she says.
“What do you mean, he’s here?” I ask.
“He’s sitting on our back step, waiting to be let in. Judging by the drool puddle, I’d say he’s been here for a while.”
My dog is opportunistic in that he’ll run any chance he gets.
But he’s also extremely lazy. Which means he gives up not too long after getting out.
If only this were the first time he’s done this.
