Such a nice young man
The neighbor kid (one of three) knocked on my door today. He wanted me to come meet their new dog. Someone gave him to them for free. He couldn't remember the dog's name. "Does it start with an A?" No. "Does it start with a B?" No... he thought it started with a T. "Is it Tomas?" It is not. It is also not Timothy, Ted or Tina. It is, however, an extremely sweet boy and he was on the short leash today, right outside the same wall of my house that Daisy's chained up along. They can't reach each other, but at least Daisy will get to know her new friend at closer quarters.
While I was petting T___ and giving him and Daisy treats, I noticed that he was standing in an area that was covered in dog turds. There was dog food spread out around the mud and turds. I told the neighbor kid that it's not healthy for dogs to have to stand in poop. "It's not? How come?" I asked him if he thought he'd stay healthy if he only had cold mud and his own poop to stand in all day. He thought about it and made a face. I asked him if he wanted to borrow the pooper scooper from my yard. He said yes and asked if we had some garbage bags, too. "You guys don't have your own bags?" He suddenly remembered that they do and looked embarassed.
While we were walking back to my house to get the scooper, I talked with him about the health issues relating to eating food that's been mixed in with poop. He didn't see what the problem was. I asked him what he thought would happen if someone gave him a plate full of food that was mixed with his poop. Might he get sick? He thought that yes, maybe, but he mostly just thought it was gross and assumed that dogs wouldn't mind. I told him that yes, dogs would very much prefer not to eat food that's been mixed in with poop.
After he got the scooping done and brought the scooper back, I continued with the Dog Care 101 lecture. I asked him if he wanted to take his dogs for a walk after school tomorrow. He thought that sounded like fun. I said it was more than fun, it was important for a dog's health to get exercise. He made his confused face. "Just think. If you could only walk three steps in any direction, all day, every day, and didn't get to run or jump on your trampoline or walk anywhere, would you feel good?" He looked uncertain. Mostly, it just sounded really boring. So we made a date to go walk the dogs after school tomorrow. I hope I'll be able to do that, but we might have work.
While I was petting T___ and giving him and Daisy treats, I noticed that he was standing in an area that was covered in dog turds. There was dog food spread out around the mud and turds. I told the neighbor kid that it's not healthy for dogs to have to stand in poop. "It's not? How come?" I asked him if he thought he'd stay healthy if he only had cold mud and his own poop to stand in all day. He thought about it and made a face. I asked him if he wanted to borrow the pooper scooper from my yard. He said yes and asked if we had some garbage bags, too. "You guys don't have your own bags?" He suddenly remembered that they do and looked embarassed.
While we were walking back to my house to get the scooper, I talked with him about the health issues relating to eating food that's been mixed in with poop. He didn't see what the problem was. I asked him what he thought would happen if someone gave him a plate full of food that was mixed with his poop. Might he get sick? He thought that yes, maybe, but he mostly just thought it was gross and assumed that dogs wouldn't mind. I told him that yes, dogs would very much prefer not to eat food that's been mixed in with poop.
After he got the scooping done and brought the scooper back, I continued with the Dog Care 101 lecture. I asked him if he wanted to take his dogs for a walk after school tomorrow. He thought that sounded like fun. I said it was more than fun, it was important for a dog's health to get exercise. He made his confused face. "Just think. If you could only walk three steps in any direction, all day, every day, and didn't get to run or jump on your trampoline or walk anywhere, would you feel good?" He looked uncertain. Mostly, it just sounded really boring. So we made a date to go walk the dogs after school tomorrow. I hope I'll be able to do that, but we might have work.