Various adventures with my dog, Nadi

Anyone who reads my stuff knows that I hold a few things as being very important to me. Well, perhaps just 2 things: bowling and my dog. The statement gets overused about being a dog-parent and what not but honestly, my life basically revolves around keeping her happy and healthy. I don't go on vacations or even leave the house for very long because I know that she gets sad when she is alone.

Just yesterday evening for example I had to run home because there was some thunder and lightning and I remembered that I left the balcony door open. Nadi, like most dogs, is terrified by thunder and in the past she has actually jumped through the balcony guard-rails attempting to get away from that loud noise that she doesn't understand. When I got home last night she was hiding behind the bed in a place I have never seen her go to before.

I suppose I baby her a bit too much but it's too late to turn back now!

I always know when rain is coming because Nadi can sense it and there is a chair right next to my office chair that I will normally put food or a book I am referencing on because my desk is small but when she is whining at the foot of that chair I know that she wants to sit there, which doesn't happen very often. Almost without fail, every time she sits in that seat about 10 minutes later it will start to rain or at least we get some "sky booms." There must be a change in atmospheric pressure or humidity that dogs can sense but humans cannot.

Nadi can also kind of tell what time of day it is and she is accustomed to being taken out at certain times of day. If I am in the middle of something such as a TV show that I was watching here, she will sit across the room and just stare at me like "hey! The hell are you doing? It's time for walks!" I almost always capitulate because the joy she gets from what is sometimes just a walk or two around the block surpasses all the joy I have felt in the past week combined.

She has also learned that every time daddy stands up and talks on the phone that the reason is likely because a delivery person is downstairs with food. This is a safe bet on her part because I almost never answer any incoming calls otherwise. Since none of my friends call me, if I get a call and didn't order any food, it is almost always someone with the wrong number, or a sales call... so I don't normally answer my phone at all. But when I do it means there is most likely a guy downstairs waiting for me to come pick up something that drives her nose crazy! This time it was Dominos pizza and yes, we have Dominos pizza here. It is one of the most expensive pizzas you can order and it is my understanding that this is the opposite case for most of the western world.

Sometimes during our walks I will decide to stop in somewhere and get a really strong coffee and some sort of sustenance. I am not really all the fussy when it comes to food and this egg and cheese sandwich was borderline disgusting... I still ate it though because my mama taught me to never waste food.

Other times we go to bars together and one of my local ones she is a bit of a celebrity. She will almost always jump up on someone's stool and not take it, but be invited to sit in it. Almost everyone there knows her name and is familiar with her and there was once a drunk and rather large person that really loves Nadi and forced anyone that was coming in to "F**king say hello to Nadi!" and everyone did.

Then of course there is the dreaded bath routine that happens enough that she knows the word "bath." It is one of about 12 words that she knows and it is the only one that she will droop her head and look away from you if you say it. Its as if she thinks that if she just doesn't look at you that the bath will not happen. I don't know where she got this impression, there has never been a single time where I was talking about baths where the bath didn't actually happen. Even though we aren't exactly hiking through the jungle every day and I leave the AC on for her when I go out, Nadi gets stinky rather rapidly and I don't know why that is. Maybe it is a characteristic of all dogs that don't shed. No matter... she is smol and it only takes 10 minutes or so to give her a bath.

Thankfully she is very compliant and even though she doesn't like them, she endures the bath and never gives me a lot of fuss about it. Then afterwards she gets really excited about getting dried with the hairdryer because she kind of enjoys it provided it isn't blowing in her eyes or ears. Then of course there are the treats that come afterwards.