Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Rehab for Boys and Dogs

I think the dog needs to go to rehab.

[Amy Winehouse sings, "No, no, no..."]

As of late, he has been totally addicted to peanut butter...totally.

It all started when my friend, Angela, came for a visit last spring break. She brought Janus 2 toys: one made of fire-hose which she deemed "indestructible" until she watched Janus shred it in front of her very eyes; and a KONG. She picked out the "Extreme" variety made for voracious chewers, and it IS indestructible. In his previous life, Janus had an orange KONG that was used as a training device.
This one is just for fun.

At some point, we started putting peanut butter and a dog biscuit in the center...the KONG is made to do just such a thing...and he received this treat every evening to give a dog something to do.

We created a monster.

He now starts "asking" for the peanut butter-filled reward each afternoon.

He barks. He looks at you. He wags his tail. He cocks his head. It's all real cute... to start with.

His "asking" becomes more aggressive as you tell him it's not quite time.

He barks louder. He cries. He whines. He growls.

Try to ignore him and he will get the KONG and drop it front of you [or ON your toe]...over and over and over again with the crazed eyes of a junkie.

The best thing to do is to prepare the KONG early in the day and stick it in the fridge...this slows him down a little and is easier on the metatarsals.

Last night, I simply cut to the chase and shoved a dog biscuit in the practically empty jar of peanut butter...which I dubbed "creamy crack 4 dogs."

When he started to eat the actual jar, we took it away.

I'm telling you...rehab may be the only answer.

In other news, Jeff is doing a little rehabilitation of his own.

He had surgery on January 28th to try and fix a repetitive motion injury to his left elbow. It had been bothering him for quite a while and was gradually getting worse but he put off the procedure until the boat was back in the water.

On that Friday, they knocked him out, made an incision, moved the tendon, scraped the area clean, and sewed him back up. He woke up wanting a hamburger, which I got him on the way home.

He had strict orders to wear the arm in a sling and limit it's movement for the first week and a 1/2. It was very, very sore.

After his first follow-up visit, he was allowed to remove the sling and start stretching and extending the arm.

He just came back from the Doctor's office with reports that he is doing just fine and that the arm is healing as to be expected.

It's still sore, but better, and he's able to little things around the boat...within reason, and the incision is dwindling to a slight scar.










So, that's my boys in rehab...

...on the S/V THIN LINE