Too Much Energy And Asparagus

We got some very sad news last night when Heffner and I went off to his agility class. Our instructor's husband passed away. Her sister was there to hold down the fort and either find phone numbers and call people to let them know that classes were cancelled or let them know when they showed up. Kathy's husband had apparently been sick for a little while and finally lost the battle, so his death wasn't a total surprise, but she gave no outward signs in classes that anything was troubling her. So our thoughts are going out to her right now at this very difficult time.

Since Heffner's class got cancelled and it's about two hours driving round trip, I didn't really particularly feel like taking the dogs out for a run. Adam cleaned up his stuff in the ball studio, but I don't have everything washed and set back up again, so no playing on the balls for the doggies. They had to just settle for some lovin'!

Unfortunately, my dogs are used to a certain amount of exercise and don't tolerate a lack there-of all that well. Mostly in the form of giant dogs bouncing off the walls (and I do mean that literally!) and squirreling all over the house. It's pretty nuts when they both get going! I took them out jogging tonight to the soccer field a few blocks down from our house since I'm still only supposed to be running on softer surfaces. You would seriously have thought that someone slipped some speed to Heffner! Holy freaking cow! That boy was amped up to the extreme. He was overly reactive to things that I can normally get him to ignore. For instance, there are these two little shih tzus who's back yard butts up against the field. They normally come out and go nuts when they see the dogs. Heffner will go on guard and be all prancy, but I can usually get him to ignore it. Not so tonight! He was leaping in the air, twirling around, and just basically beside himself to go bark back at those little beasties! He seriously was like a high strung Arabian horse (I had an Arab growing up, so I know all about their high strung flightiness!) jumping all over the place. The only difference was that he wasn't trying to shy away from the "threat."

Anyhow, after much work to get him calmed down or at least able to high step if by that section of the field, it was basically a race around the field for every lap. That boy has a lovely ground covering trot when he really extends himself. Or I should say, it's lovely to WATCH when you're not "jogging" along "with" him. I don't try to slow him down too much because he obviously needs to burn off some energy, but I also have no desire to try and keep up with my juiced up dog! So that was fun!

Bess was thankfully much better (I run them separately). She's not reactive to other dogs and I can get her to ignore things like little yappy dogs pretty easily. And she's learning about her off switch so she's not the Tasmanian Devil that she used to be!LOL However, she too was feeling a bit pent up and decided that it was time to play with me like I'm one of her buddies. And when that didn't work, as I'm jogging along, she tried to play tug with the leash. On the up side, all of her efforts expended more of her energy. On the down side, I've got a 120 lb. overly happy girl trying to play with me like I'm Heffner. Yeah, it was quite the night!

Once we got home, I fed them dinner and then started working on the human dinner. I've been trying to eat a bit healthier and adding a lot more fruits and vegetables to my meals. Tonight's yummy veggie was asparagus! I just love the stuff when it's steamed!

Lately, with all the left over bits and pieces I've had from the veggies, I've been letting the dogs sample it. Heffner pretty much doesn't care for any of it. He'll take it into his mouth and then spit it out after mouthing it a bit. Bess has surprised me by really liking pretty much everything that I've given her so far. It's been mostly little bits of zucchini, yellow squash, broccoli, cauliflower, and now asparagus. She'll eat every part of the veggie that I give her! When I'm steaming the asparagus I like to cut off the very ends of them so that they fit into the steamer a lot better. She was quite happily gobbling down the cut ends. The only thing I'm wondering about now is, will the asparagus make the dogs pee smell like it does with humans?:) Guess I'll find out in a couple of hours!