Pumba

Well, I've already had an adventure this morning and it's not even 7:00. I'm dog-sitting for Chris and family while he is in Japan for the week. The dog is a black lab - blind and diabetic, weighing at least as much as I do. He came to my house rather than staying home (with me taking food and shots twice a day) because Chris worried he might bark and annoy the neighbors with nobody there to tell him to be quiet. While the weather was nice it wasn't a problem but when I awoke this morning to the rain I went to check on him to be sure he had found shelter. There are safe places in the back yard but I wasn't sure he would find them without being able to see. I was right, the dog was soaked and after I tried to coax him around the yard, so was I. What I learned was that he feels safe on the grass but would not venture onto any hard surface - concrete or deck, which of course is where the shelter would be found. So, I'm tugging and trying to get him to come with me and he's flatly refusing. It must have been a sight (and I was getting cold besides). I went back inside for shoes and leash and finally was able to get him into the house. I toweled us both off and he went to sleep in the family room. That will be OK until Jenn's kids come upstairs. They don't like animals, Jenn's allergic, and they will not be happy, but what do you do?

Now I'm thinking about his name, Pumba, which came from Disney's Lion King - he's the big boar (I think that's what he is?). At one point he gets stuck and they're tugging and trying to get him out. It kind of felt like that to me. Oh, what we do for our children (and their pets).