Sunday, August 20, 2006

Loving the water

Frisco's dad spent the hot part of today looking for a place to live for next year (lease is upin a week or so). When I came home, he was lying on the cool tile, staying out of the heat. I fed him, and he seemed good, so I whispered in his ear: "Frisco, would you like to go swimming?"

"Swimming" is a magic word for FriscoDog. When he was a young pup, he used to demand to be taken swimming on a regular basis, and if I happened to drive past his favorite swimming hole while he was in the car, he jabbed his schnozz in the air in the direction of his park, as if to tell me I had missed the turn. He still loves the water.

Even with his body lying flat on the floor, he managed to raise his head and perk up his ears when I asked if he was interested in a trip to the water park. I made for the door, and he hauled himself off the floor to come with me.

Frisco is a problem-solver. He has figured out that he can't quite make it directly into the back seat of my car, but he can climb into the footwell and from there up to the seat. I tried to help him in, and he elbowed me away. He wiggled his own way up and into the back seat, where soft blanket is draped to protect him and to keep my upholstery relatively dog-free.

I hugged the curves out through Hill Country to the park, and I saw him in the rear view mirror, getting increasingly excited.

When I stopped the car and tried to help him down, he blew right past me, the racquetball in his mouth. He knew right where we were, and by the time I had collected my stuff to head down with him he was halfway down the path, standing there and looking back up the hill in frustration. As soon as I started down the hill to join him, he turned and dashed down to the water, despite leaning to the right the whole way.



I used an old backpacker's trick to identify that we had about 45 minutes of sunlight left, and I told him so. He planted the ball in my right hand and munched it two or three times, which is his standard way of demanding that I throw it for him. I took it from his mouth, and he fell back two or three clumsy, excited steps.


He had trouble finding it the first time (nearly losing it out the mouth of the creek), but he quickly figured out the general area into which I was throwing little gentle tosses. I threw to the exact same spot each time, so as not to tax his limited vision, and he always chased it down. The water came up just to his chest, so he didn't have to swim but benetifed from his bouyancy. He found a more gentle slope to climb up, so he didn't have to exit the water in the same spot where he had belly-flopped a moment before.

The sky was normal for Texas this year: powder blue, with high and icy cirrus clouds teasing us with the fact that there is water in the air. As the sun settled down, the sky turned to crimson, then faded to a beautiful orange. The water was an increasingly dark reflection of the sky, and I quickly lost track of the ball -- but Frisco did not, and would not let me stop throwing.

We stayed at least fifteen minutes after I had completely lost the ability to see where he was, much more so his ball. But after an hour or so, he looked like a very tired lopsided dog, and I took him inside. He walked on his own, though clumsily.

Some on this board have questioned whether I am imposing my own will and desires on my poor sick dog. Those people have never seen him at the watering hole -- much less, had him thrust his slobbery racquetball into their open hands. I am not just along for the ride: what matters to him is the racquetball.



I know this is all due to my having upped his Prednisone does, and it will go away. But for now, he gets to enjoy all of his favorite activities.

RG

PS, Frisco's vet bills have put quite a strain on my limited finances, despite kind help from many of his friends. If you would like to contribute to Friscodog’s vet bills, you may do so at PayPal. Thank you so much, to all of you who have already helped in so many ways!

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Or you may directly contact the North Austin Veterinary Hospital (http://austinveterinary.citysearch.com/), Telephone: (512) 476-9191. Tell them it's for Frisco, and they'll know who he is.

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