Because Mike’s neuropathy is advancing into his hands, he tends to drop a lot of items in a given day. I have been working with Kota to retrieve these items with two commands. The item drops on the floor and in a higher voice than normal, I say “Uh oh!” He has learned to run over and start the search for the fallen item. Once he has it in his mouth, I tell him “Bring” and he brings it to me or Mike whoever is closer. It’s a learning process, and some of the items get a bit munched before arriving- but it seems to be flowing better as Kota’s brain kicks in and figures out these are not “toys” these are necessary items that need not be chewed.

Last night, unable to sleep because one of the skunks baptized the back door- I was up watching COPS till the wee hours of the morning. Kota was asleep at my feet and the episode featured a mom with a 14 year old boy high on meth destroying his bedroom. The officers were in the bedroom trying to calm the boy down and the mom was losing it on the couch in the living room. Every time her son destroyed something, the mom would say “Uh oh, there he goes again!”

Kota woke at the first “uh oh” and started his search but while he was searching, the boy went off four more times, so more “uh oh’s” were heard. Kota is looking for glasses, a phone, a remote, something that had fallen and coming up short! After I stopped giggling- I threw four items on the floor for him to bring them to me. He did immediately wagging his gorgeous tail the entire time. He loves to serve. But he kept looking at me, like Mom, what are you doing to me? When he couldn’t find any items to “bring.” Silly, smart dog!

Tripp is not responding well with the medication. It was making him aggressive (which he is not) as well as horny to his brothers which he has never been, so I took him off of it. All the drugs they would use on him come with bad side effects- so we decided to just let him live with the behavior- give him meaty bones to chew on at night and just see what happens. We still have to figure out how to pay the vet bill- that’s not going to be as easy to do now as the word has traveled throughout town that we are no longer actively rescuing. Our four donation boxes had a grand total of $3.12 in them this month. Oh well, we will figure it out.

Have the outside cats set up for the winter. We finally got an electrician in her to reverse the damage caused by george and bring electricity back to the carport. There are now heated cat beds, a heated water bowl and some heated cat homes out there for the outdoor kitties.

Mike is now being cared for by home health care workers. There are two of them that tackle him twice a week leaving me free to go out and clean up around the yard and house and straighten up the cat enclosures. It is nice to get away from the house even if it is just escaping to the backyard.

The sheriff was out  the other night when the guy next door went off again. He has a habit of nightly, just pacing along the highway. Sometimes he flips off the cars, sometimes he throws things at the car or he gestures like he is- but these are thank God imaginary items because I always look the next morning and there are no rocks, bricks or gravel in the road. All the time he is swearing and smoking cigs and in a high agitated state. When the deputies came into our drive to question me (I didn’t call them even though he was outside our home) the neighbor across the road did. I told the deputy that I don’t even call anymore unless he looks like he has a weapon. He told me I should call 911 any time the guy makes me uncomfortable! I told him, they’d be awful busy, he’s out there all the time at night. As long as I have Kota with me, I feel safe. If we didn’t have this 86 pound 9 month German Shepherd, I might call all the time!