Laundromutt

Today I took N to LaundroMutt -- the best business idea I'm kicking myself for not having had first in awhile.  Their slogan is "BYOD" and, having brought your own dog, you can choose one of several options:

- the Muddy Paws Express:  a quick rinse-off and towel dry ($5) 

- the Regular Lave Canem ("Wash the Dog): a "house shampoo" plus a towel dry ($15) 

- the LaundroMutt Special: a house shampoo plus a blow dry ($19) or  

- the Uber Spa: a "speciality shampoo," conditioner and blow dry ($23).

We went for an upgraded LaundroMutt Special, meaning one with a specialty shampoo -- "the Bright and White" good for N's dingy legs and underbelly -- so all the joy of an Uber Spa with none of the rinse-out conditioner (and only $21).  

N was very good about getting into the tub, which was kind of like a metal trough.  One portion of the trough's front (considerably lower than the back) slid open and one of the LaundroMutt girls hooked a little metal staircase into the newly-opened slot.  N walked right up (for the most part) and then the girl closed the trough and removed the steps while I slipped the lead over N's head.

Our neighbor Nevada wasn't nearly as sanguine about the whole experience and looked pretty glum throughout.  

Nikita on the other hand was, as usual, a complete champ and didn't complain at all when I was washing her.  (Note the huge dry head atop the scrawny wet puppy-body.) 

After I wet her, shampooed her, rinsed her, squeegeed her, and towel-dried her, we moved over to one of the grooming tables -- requisite lead off, sliding panel open, stairs brought over, N down the stairs, stairs moved over to the grooming table, N back up the stairs, new lead on -- and let the blow-drying begin.  I started with the most diffuse nozzle and kept it on the lower of the two settings throughout.  The table came with two different styles of brushes, some ear-wipes, and multiple drier attachments.  

After the girls were relatively dry -- N started howling about 10 minutes into our blow-dry session so I cut it short -- we went to settle up at the counter, where we met Gunner, a trained police dog who was "too mellow" to join the Force and was therefore manning the counter at LaundroMutt instead.  Coppers loss = our gain.  Overly-tatted tattoo lady was nice too.

N's now nice and clean and fluffy.  We'll see how long it lasts...

Just for Kicks

Towards the end of the "Edwardian collar" period (ie. the cone), Nikita got increasingly fed up with things and started getting really creative in her attempts to extricate herself...  Here's her spinning around in circles on the floor, in a post-birth, puppy version of a sonogram shot:

(The incision from the spaying is visible on her belly.)  When it was all over, I let her murder the thing:                                                                                          

She also got to play with Henrey for the first time in weeks:

I'm now plotting to get rich off puppy, starting with an ad campaign for Shaw's, featuring her favorite product:

Mmm...  Peanut butter...

The New New Routine

Now that Nikita's back to normal after her assorted surgeries and getting older, I'm trying to increase the length of her walks and decrease their frequency.  So I've replaced her old morning loop around the Fens with an approximately four-mile walk over to the Public Gardens and back.  

The first part is the same -- we walk down Park Drive and cut through the Victory Gardens (I'm still waiting to hear back about my plot, argh) where Nikita stops to sample some of the plants:

We then go a couple blocks on Boylston before cutting over to Commonwealth, which has been looking particularly lovely, even on rainy, grey mornings like the one on which these photos were taken.

Nikita stops and stares at each of the statues along Comm Ave, but eventually we get to the Gardens, where we walk around the Lagoon and she goofs around with the ducks.  

We then take Newbury, Marlborough, Beacon, or, most often, the Esplanade back and, after an approximately two-hour walk -- including a stop at the Beacon Hill 4bucks for chai for me and water (with a cup to play with later!) for her -- N passes out for a good for four or five hours: score. 

Halloween!

Well, I gave it try, but Nikita flat-out refused to keep her dinosaur costume on for more than a couple seconds at a time (made more difficult by the fact that I had to kind of drape it over her like a cape that could fasten in only one place since even the XL was too small for her).  Our neighbor Henrey looked adorable in his though:

Jigs, the male bulldog on the fifth floor who tries to hump Nikita any chance he gets, was also adorable in his purple, witch-printed cape, and Smoochie, the female bulldog on the first, is so cute she doesn't need a costume.

We gave out some Milk Bones and Kit Kats to incoming dogs and humans, respectively, and had fun checking out all the costumes.  (Emily, Smoochie's "mom," was particularly great dressed as an old woman, with boobs coming out of her stomach...)  After a week of pretty much total isolation, N also seemed to enjoy all the action.

Puppy's First Nature

As a reward for getting through such an unpleasant week-and-a-half since her attack, I took Nikita and my dad, who was visiting for a few days, apple-picking in scenic Andovah, Mass.  I figured it would all be so new and exciting for N that there wasn't much danger of her chewing on her stitches, so she also got her first break from the cone.  

She also saw her first livestock: a chicken, a goat, and some sheep, a couple of the last pictured below: 

She just stared at them the first time we passed them -- "These are really odd-looking dogs..." -- but lunged at their pen on the way back, sending them running -- "It's a wolf!"  N also got a big kick out of the orchard, and we decided that, by this time next year, we'd (ie. I'd) have her trained to pull our loot back for us.

Trying to keep her relatively calm and still this past week so she doesn't rip open any of her stitches has been pretty stressful for me and I'm sure downright maddening for her, so it was really great to let her, and watch her, get to be a normal dog again, if only for a few hours.  (The cone is back on until Monday, at which point we'll start phasing it out.)  

Dad also had a lot of fun with her, and is now hopefully making his way through Logan with the 60+ apples that constituted his share...