Adolescence

Much has been going on.

I was in Oxford (UK) for the first week in August, and was alarmed at some of what I was hearing from Pat via e-mail: Josie being "difficult," "overwhelming," "hard to control." Not the best time to have left her with Pat's mom, who had enough on her mind during the days with the kids. "Well," I thought, "she must be missing her alpha. As soon as I get back we'll put things right." Well I got back, and was greeted with much joyous licking and jumping. But the control issues were still very much there.

Of several factors, one has been illness: she stopped eating for several days, and then started throwing up lots for a couple of days. Evening emergency visit to the vet, accompanied by Lizzie. (Just for effect, she coughed up some bile on the vet's floor. He was impressed.) She got IV electrolytes, and I cooked up some rice and beef for her new "bland" diet for the next few days. She's better now, but on days of mild relapse, she behaves awfully -- because she feels bad.

Another major factor: she's really growing up. She is less and less content to stay in the crate. She wants to spend more time with the pack. But she's not ready for un-supervised activity in the house. She's a real teenager, and she's a whole lot more work now than she was. There are times when she does settle down near us, chin on floor or on paws, just like a text-book dawg, but those are pretty rare. We're walking her more and more too, finding ways for her to see more of the neighborhood, work off energy. I make sure to walk about a mile with her every morning. (On several recent mornings I've walked with her by the train station along the Bronx River. A pleasure.) And we try to find a way to run her around later in the day too. After such sessions she's often pretty content, sometimes even tuckered out. But sometimes she's just rarin' to go for more.

It's been exhausting. But it's been good, at least, to have had some time during these end-of-summer days, to be here and devote some attention to all this. Better yet, it's been amazing to have these days with my kids. They aren't adolescents -- not yet, anyway! And they are a total pleasure.