Doggy Daycare :)

Today was going to be an incredibly busy day for me, and it was either take Brutus to doggy daycare, or lock him in his crate for seven hours, so I chose daycare. Big surprise there!! Believe me, it's a steal! He gets to spend all day running around playing with friends, having snacks and getting loved up, and he comes home to me exhausted. It's awesome. Don woke him up at 6:30 AM, which was a big shock to his system. Since we've been back in Bloomington, Brutus has gone back to sleeping in until 8:00-8:30. I think it's walking up those steep hills on the walking trails that does him in!

Anyway, back to the story. So, Don woke him up at 6:30, and Brutus wouldn't get out of bed, so Don said "Brutus, do you want to go for a walk?" to which he went flying out of bed, only to be put on the leash, pottied and then put in the truck. Don said he (Brutus) was very confused. I had packed up his things the night before (bed, snacks, lunch and stuffed Kong) so Don would have everything ready to go. When they got to PetSmart, there was apparently something behind the building that completely freaked Brutus out, and he started to growl, and the fur on the back of his neck was standing straight up. Don's thinking "great, he's already upset about being pulled out of bed, and now he's being vicious". This wasn't looking good, so Don talked him down and got him relaxed. He said that after he got the paperwork filled out, the girl (petite) went to take Brutus back to the daycare center, and Brutus pulled her all the way across the floor to get back to Don. He wasn't going, no way, no how. Don walked him back in to the center, and when the girl tried to walk him back again, Brutus wouldn't move. The girl couldn't make him budge, so Don ended up walking in to the back area with him, and once Brutus was through the door he must have remembered where he was, because he took off and was ready to go play. Whew, that was close. He had spent two weeks there when my mom was sick and done great, so we really weren't expecting problems, but you just never know.

I headed back to pick him up at 4:00 this afternoon, and I explained to the girl that I was writing this blog, and I would love to get some pictures of him without him knowing. There is a little hallway between the training room where Brutus took classes, and the play room where the "big" dogs were playing, so we very quietly walked in there, and Brutus must have smelled me. I held up my camera, and this is what I saw. Disclaimer: Keep in mind that the glass is not only filthy, but has a film on it, so all of the pictures are hazy.I know, excuses, excuses!! I'm learning to get fussy about pictures!

As my camera is clicking away (it was only seconds, I promise) I saw this horribly pathetic face looking at me. It was like he was screaming "MOM, SERIOUSLY, PUT THE DAMN CAMERA AWAY AND GET ME OUT OF HERE!

 Pretty soon, he's trying to open the door. This is getting to be too much!!!

OK, at this point the abuse had to stop. The girl who worked at the check out counter and I decided we had put him through enough, even though it had honestly only been a minute or less, so we turned to walk away. When I turned around, this is what I saw. Oh my God, my heart just broke. He's like "wait, no, what, where are you going? I'm still here, no, wait!"

Being the huge sap that I am for my boy, I decided there was some making up to do. After a whole bunch of nose rubbing and kisses, I decided he needed a nice cold treat, so I MAYBE took him to McDonald's for a vanilla shake. Actually, I did, and he nursed that frosty treat like a puppy that had never eaten anything better in his life. I was having a little trouble driving because I was holding the shake with my right hand, and he had one of his paws on my right arm to make sure it didn't move, and he closed his eyes and just licked it the whole drive home. When I pulled in the driveway, Don was standing there, so he grabbed my camera out of my purse and took the following picture. NOT a good picture of me, but it's the moment that counts. It was priceless. To my children who I didn't hold the cup for and let you lick out of it, sorry, you didn't have big brown eyes and a sappy face. :) But, you do need to remember all of those bowls of cookie dough that we ate while we snuggled up and watched movies in bed.