The big boys at play

Everyone's heard of the stages of grief: anger, denial, acceptance, whatever. They are most commonly talked about in relation to coming to terms with the loss of a loved one. Grief over a loss comes in many forms, and I think they apply pretty well to the loss of a job as well. I do not mean to equate the loss of a job to the loss of a family member, be it human or canine. However, a loss is a loss, and a job is a big part of our lives, as a matter of necessity. Even if I don't regret the loss of the job itself, I do regret the inevitable loss of a lifestyle that it made possible. Anyway, I've gone through a few of the classic stages of grief in the last couple of weeks, and today landed on acceptance.

Acceptance proved to a more productive stage than anger and depression, and so Chance and I went out for a good long hike in the woods this afternoon after applying for a couple of jobs. Exercise alone is said to be a good mood elevator, and walking in the woods with a dog is probably the best thing I can do to improve my outlook on life. Everything still sucks, but I was better able to deal with it.

Chance walks nicely on a leash now, and when we got back home he joined Bud (the rottie) and Bear (the shepherd) for the rest of the afternoon in the big dog yard. Last winter I built the two platforms shown in the picture. My thinking was that dogs need play things as much or more than they need open space. In a big open area, they tend to just run along the boundary. Put something in there that is interesting and they do something other than run the fence line. The low platform is about 8'x8' and about 3' high. The taller one is 6'x6' and 6' high. Only Molly goes to the top of the high platform, where she can survey her kingdom and eat her food unchallenged. Quite a few of the fosters like the lower platform, however, including Bear and Chance. Bud is a ground-based rottweiler and rarely even stands up against the fence. That is a good thing.

Chance's idea of playing is attempting to hump Bud. Bud doesn't much care for that game, but he shows great restraint in handling Chance. Bud really is a lover, not a fighter, but that massive head, huge mouth, and intimidating growl does give one pause.

Bear is ball crazy. He always has one in his mouth and he is quite good about bringing it back and even giving it up for another throw.