Parker is jumping for joy at the weather:
Today's temperature has already hit 21°C and it's still rising. Also of note, last night was the first night since January 12th that Chicago's temperature did not go below freezing.
Happy spring!
In related news, Ravinia Festival has decided to reconfigure its schedule because of the 17-year cicadas that start singing at the end of May this year. The Daily Parker anxiously awaits Parker's reaction to the bugs.
Quick: who's cuter? OK, no real contest here. He's also better looking than I am:
Parker had a well-needed bath today, complete with an unfortunately sweet-smelling shampoo and a bandanna that even Parker thinks looks silly:
Now he's pooped. The first spot he chose to lie in happened to be the spot I was just about to vacuum, so his day just keeps getting worse. He might not even get to play with his friends tonight; last night, the park was so muddy we had to move across the street.
Poor Parker. It's a dog's...well, you know.
Parker's new crate actually has more than double the area of his old crate. He has enough room to flop on his side and to turn around comfortably. Plus, he has his favorite crusty old bedspread to sleep on:
A note about that crusty, old bedspread. Anne informs me that she paid about $150 for it a few years ago, and it only acquired its patina of puppy puke and peanut butter (along with several gashes and other miscellaneous defilements) in the last six months or so. She volunteered no thoughts about how this may have happened, and Parker took the 5th, so I'll leave it to you to guess.
One of the side-effects of obedience training I didn't know ahead of time is that Parker is now crate-trained. Since he's also more than double the size he was when I first met him, the crate I had for him was a little tight. So I bought him a new crate, with more than double the footprint of his old one, and with a lot more light and air. Enough light and air, in fact, that I can point the ParkerCam at him when he's in it:
Check for Parker during the day. If I remember to bring the camera to my office when he comes to work with me, you'll get to see him even more often.
Today, however, I'm running around meeting clients, so except for a nice long lunch break at home, he'll be in the crate most of the day. At least I'll get to check on him from the road—and so can you.
For those of you wondering, yes, there is usually a thermometer visible in the picture. The top reading shows the outside temperature.
Parker went to the vet yesterday because I noticed this lovely thing growing in his lip:
The diagnosis? Dogwarts, also known as canine oral papilloma.
Seriously. He has the doggy equivalent of HPV, in that it's pretty much the same virus and it's also just about as common (most dogs have it). It's spread through saliva, so most dogs get it when they play with lots of other dogs. It's the doggy "social disease."
There's no pain, but there's no cure either, so it will just go away on its own—after he bites it. Then he'll never have it again. The vet said she could pop it, but that's a very unpleasant procedure for everyone and it's not medically necessary.
Poor puppy, with his canine kissing disease. He probably got it from Paris, who knows where she's been...
(Just kidding, Paris.)
Heel, heel, heel, sit, down, stay...it's all so tiring:
Also: good news to ParkerCam fans. The ParkerCam will return Thursday.
Parker's second training session finished up well, but according to the trainer, Joe Hislop, Parker is a smart dog who got a little spoiled. Actually, he got a lot spoiled, which is totally my fault. But now, Parker isn't so spoiled any more. In fact, he knows how to stay down for as long as necessary now. Last night, aided a little by fatigue, he stayed in a down position munching on a bully stick for an hour. Here he is being quite a well-mannered dog while I walked out of sight and back in my office building's lobby:
You'll notice that I've replaced the ParkerCam with the Inner Drive Webcam. It may be a while before the ParkerCam comes back, for two reasons. First, when he's home and I'm not, he needs to be crated. This will continue probably for a few months at least, and may be permanent. Second, I've recently upgraded some of my office systems, and it's kind of a pain to set up the ParkerCam on an old system when he is in the office.
The ParkerCam will return. Meanwhile, I'll be more concientious about Today's Daily Parker.
You will notice that the ParkerCam isn't being updated today. Parker is in his crate, which I had hoped not to use, but circumstances required it:
Parker and I watched the Oscars last night:
He got bored during the middle part, so he began repositioning furniture (in this case, my pillow):
But most of the time he just half-watched and half-slept:
Through the ParkerCam I just got to watch my darling soon-to-be-crated-from-now-on puppy disemboweled my comforter:
I guess the photo caption isn't a joke after all. I am not happy.
Update, 1:30 pm: Oh. My. God. I can't decide if he's adorable or really, really a bad dog:
Update, 5:15 pm: Caught in the act! OK, I really have to get home now.
