Indoor Playtime with Shadowfax

Shadowfax at 14 years old is a different version of her younger self. But many similarities remain, like enjoying the “chase around the couch” game. Where we used to race around the couch at full speed and wrestle, now it's slower speed game and involves mostly her barking at me, and me trying to reach over the couch to touch her nose.

We've made posts before about how we made some modifications to our activities with Shadowfax and made some minor changes around the house. We still play with her but are more gentle with tug-of-war, slower with chase around the couch, try to keep her on the carpet so she doesn't slip on the tile, and make sure she doesn't over exert herself.

Oh what a silly pup. Shadowfax definitely enjoys letting the world revel in her glorious singing voice.

Shadowfax enjoys chasing us around and barking up a storm. It's all part of a happy home for this deaf pup.

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Grandpa Comes to Visit and Shadowfax Gets Treats

Shadowfax got a whole lot of quality time with her Grandpa when he came to visit for a couple of weeks. She loves her Grandpa and he dotes on her with lots of attention and pets. And treats. So many treats. 

Every meal was an opportunity for Shadowfax to demonstrate all the manners she had now completely forgotten. Every trip to the kitchen an opportunity to “help”. 

It took Shadowfax about a day to forget EVERYTHING she learned over the years and become a shameless begging dog. In her defense why pine for a dog cookie or liver treat when there’s meatloaf, glazed donut bits, and cheese galore.

It was hard to be mad since she was exhausted, full and happy at the end of every day. Now to relearn some basic manners.

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Search Dog Lennie Being a Dog

We posted previously about search dog Lennie and his handler. Lennie may have a very important job as a search and rescue dog, but he still gets to be a dog.

Lennie has three human siblings and four canine siblings and loves all of them. He gets plenty of attention, exercise and mental stimulation.

He also spends a lot of time hanging out in the neighborhood, visiting with the dogs and people alike. Getting to show off all his tricks, like “hug” and his very steady “sit”.

All that thinking can leave a fella pretty tuckered out, so there’s some crashing on the couch time built in to every day too.

Shadowfax Has a Pup Cup

We took a morning road trip and stopped by our local coffee shop for some coffee and a pup cup. Shadowfax enjoys her pup cups and looks forward to them. If we stop for a coffee she will whine and get impatient until she gets her pup cup.

We posted videos of Shadowfax slurping her way through a pup cup a few different times before since having her first one last year. We just never get tired of watching her enjoy herself.

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A Trip to the Doctor

We had a recent health care visit about our awesome high cholesterol, and our post-visit notes from the health care provider stated:

"(Blog Author) is a delightful (age redacted) - year-old who has, I suspect a familial mixed hyperlipidemia."

This make me chuckle and smile. I haven't been called "delightful" in quite some time, maybe ever. Though admittedly I am indeed a delight, it was nice to hear this assessment from an unbiased medical professional.

One of the tough parts of living in a small town is health care. We knew this when we moved to this lovely slice of heaven on the Oregon Coast. Our small town has a clinic and is a great point of contact for primary care, but anything more complicated than a few stitches or a course of antibiotics we need to drive a half hour to the next larger town up the coast. 

 

 

The larger town has a hospital with almost all the amenities, imaging, and care necessary for a more serious health issue - heart attack, fall from a ladder. If we need to see a specialist though, it's an hour and a half drive into Corvalis in the Willamette Valley, or a three plus hour drive into Portland, the big city. 

We put up with minor inconveniences like this to enjoy the incredible surroundings seen in these photos. As we get older, our health needs may increase and we may rethink this trade off. But for now the price seems well worth the benefits.

Couples Furniture Assembly

One of the few things we miss about our old house in Idaho was the gas fireplace insert that we had installed in the living room. Our new house doesn't have natural gas and we were missing the warmth and ambiance of the fireplace. I'd seen some entertainment centers with built in heaters that look like a fireplace, so we started looking and found one. 

Plus our current entertainment center stand was a 20+ years old IKEA item and has taken a beating. It was actually a dog bed stand at our house back in North Dakota and provided a perfect perch for the dogs to look out over the neighborhood.

We haven't participated in the stereotypical "couple assembles IKEA furniture together and hi-jinks ensue" sitcom story line before. It actually went well and we were on speaking terms before, during, and after assembly.

Shadowfax helped. What she lacks in opposable thumbs she more than makes up for in her abilities to sigh disapprovingly and look bored. 

Our project turned out quite well. The entertainment center and heater provides some ambiance on a cold evening and the heater helps keep the room nice and toasty. It's not quite the same as the gas fireplace insert, and doesn't put out as much heat, but it is much safer and looks quite nice. After all her hard work, Shadowfax took a nice nap in front of the new entertainment center. 

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Traveling with Shadowfax - Car Safety

We spend a lot of time in the car with Shadowfax, both on local trips around town and longer road trips. We're on the overprotective end of the dog guardian spectrum and want to make sure that everyone is safe in the event of any sort of accident. We try to harness our over-protective feelings to mitigate any possible issues before they happen, so we can have silly Shadowfax in the car pictures like this and still be safe.

 

There is no intention of shaming anyone who doesn't keep their dog restrained when they are in a vehicle, whatever works for your lifestyle, budget, or personal preference. My sibling and their spouse are first responders though and have numerous awful stories of what happens to pets in vehicles during accidents. Crates, harnesses, and seat belts are no guarantee of a safe outcome from a crash, but like people wearing their seat belts, safety measures can decrease the odds of serious injury or worse in a crash.

When we go on longer road trips or vacations, we take our slightly larger vehicle that fits Shadowfax's large wire crate. The crate is roomy enough that she has room to stand up, stretch out, and move around enough to make herself comfortable. On longer road trips we stop every few hours and take her out, let her walk and sniff and do some business, and just be out of the crate for a little bit.

 

On shorter trips into town we take our smaller vehicle. The back seat has a washable seat cover and we keep Shadowfax in her harness and attach a lead from the harness to the seat belt. She has freedom to move around the back seat, look out the window, and lay down, but is fully restrained.

Again, this isn't meant to shame anyone or make them feel like they are inadequate pet parents. This is what we do, it works for us. Nobody wants to be in an accident or think about what might happen to their pets, but life can happen at unexpected moments.

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Time Travel Back to 2014 - A Shaak Ti Video

Let's hop in our trusty time machine and travel back to 2014. This is probably the first video we ever made of Shaak Ti using our iPad. Our camera work is shaky, unrefined, and needs significant improvement. Our technology and camera skills have improved dramatically since then.

We used to feel a little self conscious about taking a ton of pictures and videos of our dogs, especially out in public. But as time passes and dogs leave us, the photos, videos and memories are all that we have. We no longer care or feel self conscious and take every effort to document our daily lives. There will come a time when photos and videos will be cherished.

Shaak Ti loved a vigorous tummy rub and butt scratch session, you can hear her grunts of approval. While this may seem a bit rough, she loved being squished and manhandled. Loved it. We greatly miss Shaak Ti and think of her often. We were so glad that to have gobs of photos and videos to remind us of what an awesome little pup she was.

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