phelix files: week 4

At the start of the week, Phelix decided to poop right in the middle of the biggest intersection in town (Church and Commerce) just before the light was about to change. I did not pooper-scoop, sorry. A minute later, the poop had all but disappeared.

Phelix had a great time shredding wrapping paper on Christmas!! However, he got distracted while opening his own gift. He also found himself a binky while on the square and carried it all the way home in his mouth. As Rob and Chloe went to leave for the airport, Phelix spotted their suitcases and went nuts. I guess he knows what packed bags mean!

Wednesday morning, I got up to walk Phelix. While brushing her hair, she hear a whimpering just over the bedroom threshold. Apparently, Camille had neglected to *latch* his crate (I sure hope he hasn’t figured out how to open it). Nevertheless, he spent all night in it and when he woke came right to me, but didn’t come into the bedroom, since he knows he’s not allowed!

Later in the day as we headed out for a walk, Phelix puked all over the hallway rug down the hall from our apartment. Ugh. I cleaned up the mess, but now I fear what he might have swallowed; no matter how hard we try, we cannot keep him from picking up all kinds of garbage in his mouth — straws, chewed gum, plastic junk. I have nightmares about what the inside of his stomach must look like right now ….

Thursday Camille and I walked Phelix to the library and then down to the vet for his booster shot. At one point as we walked across the square, he was dragging and then refused to walk. When I looked at his paw, he had this huge white bump on it, and he yelped as I tried to pull it out. What was it? A pushpin stuck in him? A nail? No, once I managed to pull it off, we saw it was a PEPPERMINT candy — he was yelping so much I thought it was hurting more than just a little tug on his fur. Two minutes later, we were fishing soap out of his mouth. SOAP!!! At the vet, the scale registered that Phelix had gained 5lbs in three weeks. FIVE POUNDS! Must be all that litter he has been eating. Ugh.

Phelix had a blast playing with his basketball in the dog park. I took a bit of video of him playing. When I went to edit it, Phelix flipped out when he heard himself barking on my computer, silly boy.

As we started to pack to go to the cabin on Friday, Phelix got quite nervous. He wasn’t sure what was happening. As we took the last load to the car, he barked and barked. He did *not* want to get left behind! He was crazy in the car, so we put him in his crate for the first half of the trip. After we stopped to let him pee, we kept him out of the crate. After five minutes of being a crazy boy, he settled down to sleep on Camille’s lap.

Saturday at the cabin started out as a quiet one; we dressed Phelix up in his harness and coat and headed out for a walk, but just as we started down the hill, it started to sleet. Poor puppy lost out on going on a fun walk! Chloe and Rob came in the evening; Phelix practically did somersaults in the air when Chloe came it — he was SOOOO excited. As an aside, when I brought Gazoo in, neither Gazoo nor Phelix made a peep. They looked at each other and that was that. Phelix could not quite figure out the snow — he finally decided it was for eating — like everything else.

Sunday Phelix played basketball with Granpda out on the deck and then went for a very long hike using his harness. He also got a great new toy as a present from Hi Aunt Suze and Uncle Luis. Phelix had a hard time with doing his “business” outdoors today, preferring to go inside his pen. Too excited? Too cold? Too snowy? I sure hope he learns better soon.

binky – 25 dec 2012

basketball – 27 dec 2012

hiking – 29 dec 2012