Progress...and Sacrifice

Believe it or not we’re making progress day by day, week by week, especially when I think back to the first few days when I couldn’t move more than a foot without both dogs turning the house upside down in their excitement to see where I was going. Yeah, glad that’s over.

Since Day One the hardest part’s been taking the dogs in and out (to do their business). With Daisy being blind I have to hook the leash to her collar before we can go out the door for obvious safety reasons, and lead her across the deck, down the hill to the flat part of the back yard. Meanwhile Duke, who is built like an ox, wants to bulldoze his way right over Daisy “to show her the way”. And without a fence, I have to keep Duke on a leash so he won’t run off on me into the neighbor’s yard or down the street. It never failed the first week or more the leashes continually got tangled together or caught on something or wrapped around my legs. And with Duke’s strength, he’d take off like a rodeo bull, dragging me and Daisy with him. It’s no wonder my arms are now three inches longer.

Somewhere in that timeframe, the hubby and I decided we should take the dogs on a practice camping trip. We have a fifth-wheel toy-hauler camper that we’ve used every summer since 2006 and really enjoy camping. Most often we put the Harley in the toy-hauler “garage” and camp with our good friends who all have campers and motorcycles. Other times we take the whole family and use the garage part for extra storage and sleeping space.

We have a Ford F350 4-door (which I affectionately call The Semi) to pull the fifth-wheel, which sits up pretty high. Since Daisy can’t see where she’s going, it was next to impossible to get her jump up into the back seat area without knowing where she’s going…and I can’t blame her. So the hubby made a trip to Fleet Farm and rigged up a very nice ramp for Daisy to use to get in and out of the truck and camper.

By the time we rounded up an extra-large metal crate that fit both dogs comfortably, packed the dog food, dog treats, leashes and leads, dog bowls, and the newly-crafted ramp, Duke and Daisy had completely taken over the garage. We arrived at our destination in beautiful southeastern Minnesota and the hubby backed the big ol’ fifth-wheel into our campsite like a pro. Now it was time to get the dogs out of the truck. Of course Daisy was still pretty frightened by the whole concept and wanted to take it slow. Duke had no time for that. See, he’s the kind of son that likes to “help out”, which means plowing right over his mother—and not just once—to “show her the way.” Keep in mind, his excitement escalates as he’s “helping”, so he doesn’t respond to any of our commands (nor does he know any commands.)

Stop? Wait? Stay? No?

What are they talking about? I don’t get it. Watch how fast I can run up this thing. And down this thing. And back up, man, this is a blast!  In, out, up, down, in, out, c’mon Ma, get with it, follow me! Hey, there’s a fire pit, whoa, ashes everywhere. Alert—I smell food next door! I’ll run over and see if I can get in their camper. Great they have a dog too! This is gonna be FUN!

Add to that scene, think RAIN…and crushed limestone dirt-gravel-mix…which equaled a whitish MUDDY PASTE all over the truck and camper...and the dog’s feet.

Welcome to the campground.

Luckily our campsite backed up to a big open field so there weren’t any campers directly behind us. After the rain stopped I hooked the dogs to a stake into the ground while we finished setting us. After another wild round of “ramp-time” getting the dogs inside the camper that Duke turned into an Olympic-level of difficulty, we were too exhausted to get the grill out and cook outside. Instead we sat in the camper and grabbed the first thing we found in the fridge. By then Duke and Daisy had calmed down and seemed perfectly content to lie on the floor like a pair of sweet angels.

Miss Daisy all tuckered out

Is this close enough?

Around 10:30 we garnered up the energy to take them outside one last time and in the darkness I walked right into the iron fire pit. Yup, a nice sized bruise on the left shin bone.

Come Saturday morning though the sun was shining, and--as they say--it was a new day. We took Duke and Daisy for walks and found a little creek across the field that Duke loved to play in. Daisy took careful steps along the edge, but with the slippery, uneven bottom, she didn’t venture in too far. Later in the day our son David joined us, so we fixed a nice dinner on the grill and relaxed outside with a campfire, like normal campers.

David & Duke & Daisy

Walking the trail

Time for a swim

Mr Duke right at home in the water

David & Duke

By Sunday Duke and Daisy were getting the hang of the ramp, although Duke still had to plow over Daisy once or twice, just because. And with the dogs having pretty much taken over the garage area of the camper…there was no room for the Harley.

Fast-forward another week: the Harley sold…and a fence will soon be erected in the backyard. Yup, the hubby gave up the Harley to give Duke and Daisy a safe place to play in their new home.

Pretty cool sacrifice in my opinion.

Barbara