It’s been just over a month since Saul came home and we are now settling in much better. We have quickly learned Saul’s signals that he needs to go out and he’s quickly showing us exactly what we need to know. The bonding process between Thatcher and Saul is going so well and even after it was so cold, with snow on the ground that we couldn’t even get out of the house, Saul is still finding his boy like the champ that he is. He doesn’t like when Thatcher leaves to go to school and he loves when we pick Thatcher up. Thatcher will occasionally pet Saul with prompting and even offered to help brush Saul after his weekly bath on Sunday without prompting. Though we did have a bit of trouble with tracking for a bit, we were able to quickly get Saul back on track with practice and plenty of bonding opportunities. We have even had meltdowns, mostly at home, that lasted way less time because Saul is here. It’s been amazing having Saul in our lives and we could never thank the people who made it possible enough.
All this being said, however, it must be stated that dogs are fun. And having a dog in our lives leads to some funny situations. For example, the case of the mysterious disappearing poop. This happened yesterday. Here’s the thing about dog poop… it’s almost always brown. When a dog poops on white snow, it is extremely easy to see and pick up. When dog poop hits the snow, it gets cold and much easier to pick up. But when the snow melts away in Kentucky, all those leaves that fell in the fall that still lie on the ground are brown. The same color as dog poop. Saul’s favorite place to do his business is close to the trees that are in the grassy area behind our apartment. And Saul is having a bit of digestive trouble again. If he eats anything out of the ordinary (i.e. snags a chip from the floor that our son dropped), he gets the nasty poops. But we live in the city and the city ordinance is that we ALWAYS clean up after Saul. *Note: We’d do that even if we lived in the middle of nowhere because we prefer not stepping in doggy poop bombs. Well, I messed up yesterday and I forgot to grab a few paper towels for clean up. I decided that rather than walk all the way up the stairs to grab a few paper towels, I would walk to my car and get some napkins that I keep in the glove box to use. I walked over to the car, grabbed the napkins, walked back, Saul in a heel the whole way and by the time I got to his area, I had lost the poop. That’s right, the poop pile was just gone. Well, not really gone, but camouflaged by the brown leaves littering the grassy area. I stood there for a good five minutes searching the area for that pile of brown slightly runny poop before I found it again, and yes, for the record, I did find it and clean it up, but in that five minutes that seemed to go on forever, it appeared that Saul had magical disappearing poop. And if only that were true. Every dog owners dream would be for their dog to have magical vanishing poops that disappear without the dog eating it. Saul has yet to eat poop, however, he does like to try and eat everything else.
So this is now my reality. Saul is wonderful and Thatcher and Saul get along great. I love that Saul is here for Thatcher and I don’t mind cleaning up after Saul, but now, I will also have the story of Saul’s mysterious disappearing poop.
Jo Grayson Author 