Doggie Dam

I took Mr. Big out to breakfast this morning with T and Bertie after we met up to walk around the duck pond at the park. I wanted to walk through the rose garden, but it was still locked at 7 a.m.. This is the duck pond that Mr. Big leaped  into 6 or 7 years ago, after one of the aforementioned ducks. I'm not sure I'd want to eat one of these ducks, but then again, Mr. Big eats dog poop and lizards, so our gustatory delights are very different. How tasty can an urban, desert duck be? The edges of the pond are very shallow, but it's a man-made pond, so it's not just a shallow rise to walk out of but a step up and out. I had to haul him out of the pond. And he didn't help, he just stood there, with a look on his face, as if to say "What did I do? How did I get into this mess of stinky water? How do I get out of here?" He was green with slime, and stunk to high heaven. We had to sit in the park for an hour, waiting for him-and me-to dry. Never fear--no ducks were harmed in the canine diving and swimming event.

It's been six weeks since he had a bath, and he was quite gray, which is not a Samoyed Club of America-sanctioned coat color. It's been so warm the past few days, and he dries very quickly, that I decided, out of the blue, or gray, to bathe him. He's so big, even having lost 6 lbs. this year, that he created a doggie dam in my bathtub. Behind him, the water was clean. In front of him, it was gray.

He doesn't like baths. Oh, he's not as bad as Pupgirl was--she would scream like a banshee when she got wet in bathtub, while trying to scramble out to dry safety. Mr. Big has better manners than that when being bathed. He gets this resigned look on his face, and just silently bears it. His rear leg weakness (that repetitive muscle injury he suffers) makes him very skittish about not having good traction, so he was most definitely Not Happy when I lifted him into the tub. No doubt, he was also thinking "D*^!!" Doggie dam indeed.

So white you almost can't see him on the almost-clean floor!  That's my handsome boy, gone from gray shaggy mess to wet, res-like (reservation dogs are notoriously skinny, mangy, and dirty) mongrel, to sparkling white fluffiness.