Meet Barney. He is 7 years old and is just about the cutest and sweetest thing we’ve ever encountered. His former owners were heartbroken to not get to keep him any more, but apparently Barney has gotten a bit more vocal this past year and their neighbors were not thrilled listening to his howling renditions of “singin the blues” all throughout the day.
We’ve had him for just over a week now and I’ve decided that– I want a life like Barney’s. It doesn’t seem fair that he is the only one who gets to live this way.
Here is a day in the life of Barney:
5:30am: Wakes up, does his “business” outside, comes back in ands takes an early morning nap while I have my quiet time (it’s not very quiet–he snores)
6:30am: Wags his tail as Super Rockstar comes down for the morning, but continues with his morning nap.
6:45am: Boys wake up and give Barney some love, but the nap just keep on going.
7:00am: I’m making breakfast, so he has a rouses from his nap and sits hopefully in the kitchen looking for any dropped bits of food. No luck. So, he strolls reluctantly over to his bowl to eat dry dog food. I have carefully crumbled bacon dog treats in to entice him to eat it. But, he is much too clever–carefully nosing the dry bits aside to get to the “good stuff”.
7:45am: Hops (lumbers) into the Jeep to take the boys to school.
7:50am: Morning constitutional time–while walking the boys to their school door. Same spot every day–glad I remembered the poop bags.
7:52am: Marking territory pee on fences. Two spots. Same place each time. Glad we’re not running late.
8:05am: Home and it’s time for morning nap #2.
9:00am: Very ungraceful scramble into the Jeep to head out for our morning hike.
9:15-10:00am: Sniffs each and every tree, bush, and plant–trotting forward and back with the precision of a CSI detective making sure he has missed nothing.
10:02am: Big drink of water back in the jeep and heading home.
10:30am: Time for morning nap #3.
11:30am: I’m making my lunch so he is once again motivated to hoist himself out of the chair and sit and stare longingly at every move I make.
11:40am: No luck, so time for morning nap #4.
12:30pm: I head upstairs to take a nap and Barney joins me and lays down in his kennel. (if you’re keeping count he is on nap #5)
1-2:00pm: I have to run some errands so Barney goes in the back yard (VERY reluctantly). I’m hoping and praying that he keeps his vocal lessons down to a minimum.
2:05pm: This is what I come home to: It was big enough to fit his head through, but he underestimated the size of his overall girth.
Much whining and over dramatic display of trauma–“Where have you been? I didn’t think you would EVER come back!”
2:07 I place large pavers in front of the “window” he created in hopes of keeping him from plotting a big escape again. (what does he hope to accomplish here–break out so he can come find us? or does just the idea of being in a large shaded fenced back yard with a doggie igloo to hang out in and a large bowl of water some how offend him?)
On another occasion we had to leave for a couple of hours in the evening and decided we would try keeping him in his kennel. We came home to this:
The fluffy decoration motif you’re going for is… lot’s of fun, Barney, but it kind of clashes with the décor in the rest of the house. (I’m beginning to suspect that Barney may have some co-dependency issues–these little “hints” he’s giving us…)
2:40pm: Time to pick up the boys. This is his favorite venture all day–lots of jumping around and excitement every time.
2:45pm: More territory marking on the fence. Same two spots.
3:00pm: “Can I pet your dog?” asked by at least 6 kids each day–with Barney basking in the ear, back and belly scratches by perfect strangers and the ones he’s getting to call his own.
3:20pm: Back home and time for nap #6 while the boys do their homework and play games.
4:30pm: I’m fixing dinner so it’s time for him to stand in kitchen again–guarding the floor from any scraps that might slip off the counter.
5:00pm: Super Rockstar is home and is greeted with a wagging tail and growls of “It’s play time”. A burst of energy that he hasn’t possessed all day comes out as he chases after and plays tug of war with his toys and with whomever will throw them.
5:05pm: Burst of energy has vanished.
5:15pm: Dinner time–a lovely mix of dry dog food and some sort of congealed gooey soft food he seems to enjoy.
5:45pm: Time for nap #7. This nap is usually broken down in sections– as he follows us from room to room and just plops down wherever we are to sleep and snore.
7:00pm: Upstairs to say goodnight to the boys.
7:05pm: Back downstairs for his evening nap (#8) while we watch shows (lots of snoring involved–we have to turn up the volume on the TV)
9:30pm: Outside to pee. Sometimes he wants to skip this part–we’ve noticed a bit of a stubborn streak on some certain issues. After several minutes of walking around he relents, does his business and heads inside.
9:45pm: Upstairs for bed. Back into his kennel–pausing next to our bed and for a split second nonchalantly acting as if this is where he is supposed to sleep. Um….no.
9:50 The loud snoring resumes and continues all through the night.
Good night Barney.