Lily - day five

I cannot get the Chicago dog parks license fast enough! I really need to get the application in before my feet fall off.

More accurately, I need to set some limits for myself, or just get in better shape. I've been "dog" walking since May. I only missed a few days during my initial test, except I exempted myself from the morning walks on the grounds that it would be ridiculous to walk myself all around town at some early hour sans dog. Well, what I didn't figure on was getting carried away in the mornings, walking to work, walking back at lunch, taking a 20 minute stroll, walking back to work, walking home, taking a long walk after work, and then another stroll before bed.

Granted, it's the first week and I'm overdoing things, but I've been tuckered every night since bringing Lily home. I think I might lose some weight in the near future.

OK, complaining aside, it's not actually that bad... and Lily's not exactly bouncing off the walls either. I think she's as tired as I am. Today was day five and I tried to move to a more "normal" routine. I meant to get up with the first alarm ring and take her on a longer walk this morning (~2 miles) with the idea of skipping the lunch time trip. The PAWS people said she would be fine alone for 8-10 hours (this was a requirement of mine. I don't want to pay a dog walker, and I don't want to come home every day over lunch), so I don't want to get her in the mindset that I will be coming home for lunch everyday. Anyhow, I hit snooze a couple of times and so we took a quicker walk. I tried to map it on Google at work and it was approximately 3/4 mile this morning.

Anyhow, I thought about going home for lunch and taking her out, but I decided a crash course in reality was alright. (I'm especially nervous about the freezing winter when 3/4 mile will feel like a marathon.) So, I didn't go home during the day to take her out.

I left work immediately at 5 and bustled on home. She started whining a little when she heard me come in the apartment, but she was more excited to see me than manic to get outside. We went out and she probably made it 5 blocks before needing a #2, and we were at least a mile out by the time she decided to urinate... so I feel especially okay leaving her home for a full work day - although I'll keep an anxious eye on her energy levels for the next several work days.

Knowing she'd been cooped up all day, we went for a fairly long (2.5 mile) walk over to the lake and down the lake shore. But the wind was blowing off the lake and the sun was setting, so the exposed lake shore was considerably less pleasant than the wind-shielded river walk. Rather than looping around Millennium park, we just headed back the way we came.

After a short evening of watching a few sit-coms (one thumb up for Modern family, two thumbs up for Cougar town and Glee), I decided to get in a short evening constitutional and turn in early. Well, remember where I said I mapped my morning route on Google maps? Well, I also mapped a few larger loops and then forgot which was the one mile loop. I ended up walking 2.3 miles (so says Google). So, add in the .8 miles to work and back and I walked about 5.5 6.3 miles today... so my feet are sore.

In other news, she ate her food and drank her water today. She did not appear interested in the peanut-butter stuffed kong. I'm curious what she's doing all day while I'm out. Probably sleeping, but all the dog books say they need mental stimulation or they'll turn destructive. But, she hasn't destroyed anything yet, so I'm still waiting for the toys to show some wear, or for at least a toilet paper roll to be shredded. We'll see.

I also got a message from the vet's office that said her poo test was clean... so my pooch is healthy. We need to get back to the vet next week for another round of shots, but otherwise the medical things will be done.

So, aside from me being out of shape, with sore feet, the dog experiment is going quite well. (She barked for the first time just now. Gotta re-read that part of the dog book now.) I still have another ten days as a "foster parent," but it looks like I'm headed toward being a "failed foster." Yippee!