a Taj MuttHall Dog Diary: Not Playful

Tuesday, March 04, 2003

Not Playful

Although Rem likes his walks and gophers, he hasn't felt good enough to be playful in at least a week. Last night it looked like he was trying-- I got out a Box while I was playing with the other dogs. Usually he springs into the I'm Ready To Rumble posture and I toss it to him and he grabs it, shakes it, flings it around, runs around like crazy, plays a little tug of war, finally settles down to pulling its flaps off. Last night when I got out a Box, he looked at it which is more than he's done for a week, but his ears didn't go up. I tossed it and played with it a little bit and he watched; finally slammed one foot down onto it, took a flap tentatively in his mouth, then after about 5 seconds walked away.

Later in the evening, when I get the Special Toys out of the box for indoor play, he still wasn't interested in his big furry toy. Usually it's a lot of shaking, a little tug-o-war, and then he settles down to nurse on it for 5-20 minutes, depending on how contented he feels. Last night he looked but made no effort to take it. I noticed later that he had put one foot on it and was resting his chin on it, which is more than he's done for a week, but it was so pathetic that my heart crumbled.

He's not usually a playful dog anyway--too serious for that--but we usually get some a couple of times a day.

He has diarrhea again--or just very uncomfortable #2 habits. Leaves little half-formed splortches around the yard, sometimes puddles. Yesterday afternoon and evening he was going outside every hour or so, but he did sleep through the night. I gave him some kaopectate last night. We'll see how he does today.

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