Operation: Shadow Watch day 1

Yesterday was the official beginning of ‘Operation: Shadow Watch.’ It started out a little bumpy, but by the end it panned out quite well. Allow me to elaborate:

If you’ve been keeping up with my blog lately, you know what I’m taking about, but if you not then all you really need to know is the fact that this week I am taking care of my neighbor’s dog “Shadow” *pictured above* while they’re on vacation (though I suggest you go back and read the earlier post so you’ll be on the same page as everyone else…

Now I’ve never really had any extended interaction with this dog before, so I was a little unsure of just how he would take to me. Nevertheless I bucked up and reminded myself of the fact that animals have always seemed to like me, so this one shouldn’t be any different…but we would soon see if that was indeed the case.

My neighbors had let him out to do his ‘business’ yesterday morning before they left, so I didn’t have to worry about waking up extra early to handle it. I woke up at about 11(no classes Tuesdays and Thursdays), had a quick breakfast, and decided it was time to head over. Key tightly in hand, I slowly began my ascent up the long steep staircase leading to the front door. It was eerily silent for a few moments, but as soon as I inserted the key into the lock, frenzied barking was heard coming from inside. I disengaged the lock, gripped the doorknob, and took a deep breath before I opened the door. When Shadow saw me standing there as opposed to a member of his family, he barked a few more times and crouched down low, not taking his eyes off of me. I instantly knelt down and outstretched my hand for him to smell to see I wasn’t a threat. He did sniff it a few times, but then quickly turned and distanced himself from me.

I scanned the room, and suddenly my eyes caught a bag of treats on the counter, which gave me an idea… I would slip him a few, and essentially bribe him into liking me! I grabbed the bag, and pulled one out to offer him, but he just smelled it and turned away. Troubled by the fact that I was about to spend the next seven days with a dog that hated me, I noticed his tail was between his legs, he was crouched down low, and he was shivering a bit (which I thought was odd for such a large dog). That’s when I realized, it wasn’t that he didn’t like me… he was terrified of me!

After a few more attempts at offering a treat, he eventually accepted it from me, and in my joy of the breakthrough I gave him about four more. He finally began to relax a bit, and went over to curl up on the left side of the couch. Seeing this as a chance to get him used to me being around, I sat down on the opposite side, and put on the television.

I was watching the movie ‘Beerfest’ but it was on basic cable, so it was only about ½ as entertaining as usual. Somewhere along the way I ended up falling asleep, but was eventually woken up by air being blown on me. I opened my eyes to see myself face-to-face with Shadow. Now, the last time I was this close to a dog’s face, I ended up with a lot of stitches and a couple unsightly scars in my lips (but that is a different story for a different time) so naturally I couldn’t help but be terrified. My heart began to race, and I was in the process of kissing my meal ticket goodbye, when he lunged at me. I closed my eyes waiting for the pain. But What I felt instead was a dog tongue all over my face. I couldn’t help but laugh, and thus was the start of a beautiful friendship.

I was planning on taking him out for a walk today when I got home from class, to try and pick up some chicks (and thus test of that actually does work), but if this rain keep up it won’t happen. Maybe tomorrow if the weather clears up?

Tune in for the next installment.              

Operation: Shadow Watch

Before I get into anything… YES, I do realize recently my blog posts have been minimal and erratic. I apologize for that, but the fact of the matter is that I haven’t had much going on lately, or at least nothing that is worthy enough to share with you all. I want to give you only the most entertaining anecdotes of my life, so when the only thing I can find to write about it how I have nothing to write about, I don’t bother wasting your time. However, have no fear! I think I may have a live one here, folks.

Let me begin by bringing you up to speed with some brief background information: I live at the bottom of a dead end hill, and when I was growing up there were woods (actually just a thick grove of trees that we all called ‘the woods’) directly across the street from my house, which always gave us a feeling of real privacy. A few years back someone purchased the land, tore down all the trees and put up a duplex. The residents of my street were very unhappy, and are still a bit sensitive about it to this day (although that’s another story for another time). On the bright side, though, at least we got some good neighbors out of the deal. The newlywed couple on the left side moved out after about two years and we now have a young bachelor who is very friendly, though hardly ever home, and on the right side there is a very nice family of Michelle, her husband Sergio, their young son Jacob, and their dog Shadow. I've had  few conversations with members of the family, but I've never really had any hands on interaction with Shadow, though he is always running around the street with little Jacob.

Just so you can get a visual, the dog in question is half Black Lab and half Great Dane, so you could only imagine the size, and I always joke that there is a black horse running around my street.

Well last week Michelle approached me and told me that she and her family were going to Florida for vacation from the 12^th to the 19^th, and asked if I would have any interest in watching Shadow for them. Naturally I said I would love to, as I’m a big fan of dogs (though I am adamantly a cat-person) and it’s not like walking directly across the street to play with a dog is exactly strenuous work, haha.

Saturday morning I went to meet Shadow (who likes me… at least as far as I could tell) and speak to Michelle so she could give me the rundown for when to feed him, let him out, etc. 

It wasn't until today that I realized, because this is a new experience for me, and as I've been bit short on blog material lately, that starting next week I will begin ‘Operation: Shadow Watch’ documenting the daily events as they unfold. Hopefully you will all stick with me through the journey, and hopefully my efforts to care for this canine behemoth will keep you all sufficiently entertained. Stay tuned for day one which should be coming up probably next Monday the 11th, or if not then definitely next Tuesday, the 12th .