Bossy Feet

Out of three days so far this week, Gozer has led me to the vet's office three times: once a day. She tried to lead me there a second time today but I decided that there was no way that we were going there again. It's one thing to show up at the office once a week or so, but every day? I wouldn't blame them for thinking that I'm a little nuts for letting my dog lead me there because I think I'm nuts for letting it happen.

Because we were at the vet's for her to say hello to everyone anyways, I figured I'd weigh Gozer. She's still gaining weight: she weighed 9.2kg, up from 9.0kg last time. I guess her walks aren't enough exercise so I'll need to make her run and chase her toys in the house. Of course we should also decrease her food a bit because we must be overfeeding her a bit.

At least one of us is losing weight: me. I've lost about ten pounds since last September (fifteen since last year) and I'm very happy about that. I have been slowly trying to lost the weight and it's not coming off too quickly so I'm not worried about the weight loss. It's not like I couldn't afford to lose more weight, either, but I'll be happy if I lose another five pounds, maximum.

I've been very lazy over the last few days. I work on the red carpet post and then I do some sketching for metalsmithing and then I watch tv and surf the interwebs... except when I'm walking Miss Bossy Feet (aka Gozer). Since she's come off of the Reconcile (doggy Prozac), she's much more energetic and much bossier. She has very clear ideas about where she wants to go on her walks and will balk by seemingly gluing her feet to the ground and leaning against the leash if I don't go that way. I can, with enough effort and leash pops, get her to go in the direction I want, but she'll continue trying to go where she wants for quite some time. For example, if we don't cross the street at the first driveway for the vet's, she'll balk at the second, and then the third, and then she'll really balk when we cross the street away from the office.

She's also become quite sneaky about getting her own way. She likes to cross Keewatin Ave to go onto Stanmore but I don't always want to go that way, especially if we had a big walk earlier. Last night, instead of waiting to cross at Stanmore, she crossed as soon as we reached Keewatin so that it would be a simple turn onto Stanmore instead of having to cross the street then.

She's not just bossy on walks, of course: she likes to be bossy with her feet at home, too. She has very clear ideas about when she wants to eat and will paw at her food dish and the food container to let me know she's hungry. If I ignore those signs, she starts barking and batting me with her front paws until I distract her somehow. She hasn't yet figured out that she doesn't get fed when she's being bossy like that.

I tell you, life with a bossy dog is certainly interesting. The upside is that she's playing more and more on her own, which is soemthing I definitely want to encourage. As long as she does what I want without any more fuss than not wanting to go in another direction, she can be bossy sometimes. It is, after all, kind of cute.