Wide-eyed wonderer
mandy is a 15 month old service dog we met at the lake. she took a great liking to atlas and chased him around & around & around.
(she and her brother were having so much fun in the water that i thought atlas might follow them in. nope. he looked at them bemusedly and then turned away.)
atlas stayed with my parents while i was in rhode island.
the last time i left him with my parents, they taught him to sleep through the night. (i was beyond grateful.) this time, they taught him to eat his kibble without the addition of gravy.
it is clear there is a weak link in our relationship, and that weak link is me.
he’s just so cute!
atlas says: i will drink from the lake, but i will not swim in it. just because i am now willing to let my belly touch the water does not mean that i have changed my mind about this. i am resolved.
elizabeth says: on monday, a kind stranger held atlas’s leash while i swam. she said that when i went under, he had a very furrowed brow. he did not, however, seem inclined to come in after me. still, i remain hopeful.
a wordless weimaraner wednesday.
clearly spring-summer is here, because atlas is eating a salad a day again. he usually chooses greens along the trail but, in a pinch, he’ll eat the greens in front of the house. after all these years, this habit still makes me giggle. i used to tell him that if i wanted to hike with a cow, i would have gotten a cow, but i didn’t. instead, i got him – a dog who eats grass whenever it’s in season, simply because he likes it.
on saturday, we went for a hike. it was a nice day, but a little too warm for atlas (he likes it cooler than 70 & it was 80 that day). he was so hot – even though he hiked in the shade and drank from a fish pond & the river & the lake – that i shared my ice cream cone with him. after a few licks, he apparently forgot we were sharing, because he chased the cone with his tongue and then took a sideways bite and ate the whole top off. and then he wanted to eat the cone too! silly pup.
i’m hoping that atlas will swim this year. so far, no such luck. it’s hard to blame him; the water is icy. one afternoon, i found a nice stick on the shore. when i showed it to atlas, he was intrigued, so i threw it in the water. he went in after it, but when the water touched his belly, he stopped and looked at the stick for a while, then turned around and came back out. maybe i need to throw in a hamburger or a hotdog.
atlas can now add beavers to his wildlife sightings. the dead beaver interested him more than the live one – possibly because the live one was out in the water. i guess we’ll find out if we run into a beaver on the trail or in the swamp someday.
report back, please!
two sundays ago, while (not) waiting for me to take a photo, atlas managed to hobble a back paw while wrapping the leash around and around a front paw and felled himself like a tree on some very prickly grasses. he cried. i had to quickly climb up the ledge and rescue him (from himself).
this past sunday, atlas flung himself down on every single patch of green grass in the yard and wriggled around on it with glee.
on monday night, atlas saw ten deer in the three mile drive home from the lake. he has been running in his dreams ever since.
in my head, i have a long litany of atlas stories, so i thought i would share a few of them with you. i am feeling very tender toward him today because last night, he had an episode that was possibly/probably a seizure. he is fine now, but it reminded me that it is good to love him extra-hard, while he is here in the world with me.
savannah likes to incorporate atlas into her bubble play.
she puts the bubble wand in front of atlas’s nose and says, “blow, atlas, blow”. sometimes, he ignores her. sometimes, he lifts his head up, looks at the wand, licks it, then licks his lips with a very puzzled expression. i imagine he is wondering why she’s offering him something that is clearly not edible.
she also likes to blow bubbles “at his toes!” or “at his head!”
atlas started peeing in the front yard. i think it’s because it’s the only place with grass.
my mom said no – that section of grass needs all the help it can get. the cars are parked there in the winter, to stay out of the way of the plow, so the grass never really grows.
whenever atlas tries to pee in the yard and i say no, he walks across the road and clambers to the top of the snowbank. with the recent warm weather, the snow is extremely soft. one night, mid-stream, he tried to move his foot to re-adjust, and sank down into the snow while he was peeing.
it was hilarious. as is the sight of him peeing on the top of a snowbank at all.
the windows in my room are almost always open. one night, i woke up in the wee hours to find the smell of skunk wafting through the open windows.
atlas popped out of bed and delightedly sniff-sniff-sniffed away. he wanted to go outside.
i most definitely did not.
however, i couldn’t be sure that he didn’t also want to go outside because he needed a potty run, so i finally brought him outside anyway, putting him on a leash and peeking out the door before i opened it.
atlas did not appreciate the leash. how could he find the delightful smelly creature with me attached? i, on the other hand, was pretty sure that if he had found it, he would have escaped unscathed while i wound up getting sprayed, so i did not feel remorseful about the leash at all.
after the snow went through some rounds of thawing and freezing, there was a reasonably solid crust. atlas could walk on it without sinking too deeply or too often, so he started following his nose into the snow.
there is a hill (two plus houses high) near my house. we call it the dirt hill and it was the scene of many youthful adventures.
atlas and i were out for a walk one day when he caught a scent near the hill, clambered up the snowbank, and started climbing up the snow-covered hill. every few feet, he stopped and looked back at me, a very pleased expression on his face. i cheered him on happily. (i tried to go too, but when i sank to my knees in the snow, i turned around.) he finally crested the top and disappeared.
eventually, he came back. when he finally reached the road, he looked so delighted with himself and his adventure.
they are so good at taking the simplest things in life and turning them into a joyful adventure.
atlas here.
my mission: to brighten your day.
because i am my person’s pup, i know just how to do it.
i am going to spread joy through postcards.
imagine your surprise.
imagine your delight.
i know i can make you smile!
you know you want to!
you can find all the details right here.
the postcards will start in april.
on saturday, atlas turned 11, so i thought it would be fun to wander through his life in pictures.
2003: i have a new puppy! this is a year that includes surgery (for me), parvo (for him), and the love + fun + adventure + growing pains of our new life together.
2004: this is a year that includes training, daily adventures, trips to sheep dung estates & san diego, and a move from sacramento to folsom.
2005: this is a year that includes more training, more daily adventures, and the pleasure + pain of both a jackrabbit chase & a squirrel catch.
2006: this is a year that includes a move to oregon, a road trip to seattle, camping, hikes, time at the oregon coast, and the beginning of an annual corn maze tradition.
2007: this is a year that includes a road trip to seattle, a road trip to michigan, an adventure in colorado, and fun dog + person classes.
2008: this is a year that includes lots of time at the oregon coast, an autumn trip to detroit lake, the first kitty-friend for a kitty-obsessed puppy, and many more daily adventures.
2009: this is a year that includes the call of the wild dog camp, lots of hiking, more fun dog + person classes, and more daily adventures.
2010: this is a year that includes a new dog-friendly work environment (meaning: i leave my job to be my own employer) and a road trip to the central oregon coast.
2011: this is a year that includes a road trip to the olympic peninsula and many many many daily adventures.
2012: this is a year that includes hikes, adventures, and three months on the couch due to a fractured puppy toe.
2013: this is a year that includes a move to michigan, an adventure in north dakota, a hike up a mountain, encounters with deer + bear poop + foxes + partridge, an arctic-like winter, a household that always seems to have meat + gravy, and many many daily adventures.
i love you more than all the stars in the sky & all the fish in the sea, and i am beyond grateful for every single one of our years together.
when i saw this photo, i giggled, because it perfectly & succinctly expresses atlas’s current opinion of cold + snow.
he is ready to run! without slipping and sliding. without sinking into the white.
soon, little puppy, soon. (she says hopefully.) and maybe with all your pent-up energy, you will finally catch your rabbit. (she says much less hopefully.)
I'm Elizabeth. My highest values are beauty, truth, freedom & love. Everything I share comes from that.
