A poopy morning

Sometimes there is just one word to describe a day.  Poopy.  And that was the figurative and LITERAL description of our Monday morning.

Preamble:  On Sunday, we had rain most of the day.  Frodo went outside, but VERY reluctantly.  He performed the funeral march while on our morning constitutional.  And any time during the rest of the day, when my human TRIED to get him to go out, he flat out refused.  He had pooped in the morning, thank you very much, so he was NOT going out again.

So fast forward to Monday morning.  It was NOT raining, but the road was wet.  He remained unhappy about the damp conditions.  We were walking at 5AM .  In the dark.  With my human wearing her shocking pink reflective jacket and her trusty headlamp.  But the batteries were starting to go - so the beam was not QUITE as bright as normal.  Frodo stopped (in the middle of the road of course) to poop.  And he did.  And then he took a few steps.  And pooped again.  I'm sorry for the graphic description  but most likely if you are reading a blog by a dog, you probably own or have owned a dog - so talk about poop behavior is NOT unfamiliar.  Anyway, he APPEARED to be having some problems.    But after several futile attempts, he made another deposit and was good to proceed.  Or so it seemed.  This is one of the dangers of walking a fuzzy dog in the dark.

He trotted along and was anxious to get in the house to get some banana - part of our usual routine.  And that's when the squealing and moaning and spinning suddenly happened.  Frodo looked and sounded as if he was in agony.  My human spun around from the kitchen sink where she was washing her hands and she IMMEDIATELY KNEW what the problem must be - a CLING-ON.  She raced to grab him before he dragged his butt across the dining room carpet.  But he didn't want her to catch him - he knew what would come next.  So he raced around the table in a crouched position, as fast as he could.  So around and around they went - with my human chanting "Just be Calm" and trying to grab him under the table.  She finally did - and whisked him into the garage AKA grooming room and into the tub.  Good thing.  This was a record breaking cling-on.  Despite Frodo's initial protests,  he was QUITE happy when the emergency cling-on-ectomy was completed.  Elroy and I just watched the procedure with awe.   Or should that be "Awwwwwwwwww."

When the surgery was completed, and we finally had our bananas, my human went into the hall closet for something.  And she glanced down at the carpet - with the assortment of leaves we had brought in that morning.  "That's a strange shaped leaf," she thought and went to move it with her slipper.  You guessed it.  That was no leaf.  "Just be calm" she muttered, "just be calm." It seems not all cling-ons cling.

And so the week began....