8.20.2005
so i think i emotionally traumatized shelton's doggie
shelton took off for the weekend and asked if i could check on nelly and make sure she still had water, etc. He did say water..., so i took her with me when i went tubing down the american river on friday with donkey and resse. we hooked up two rafts, a large mattress, and had a tube along as well for the trip. one raft was filled with goodies: an ice chest with food and water, life jackets, floatie noodles, squirt gun, radio, sun screen, and a few other essentials. the other raft was designated as the nelly vessel and whomever wanted to doggie-sit at the time. the mattress was the sun-bathing spot, while the tube offered freedom of movement.
when we got down to the water for the first time nelly went splashing around and proved to be a water dog. i picked her up and set her down in the raft. she seemed to be ok with it and was kind of standing trying to figure out the balance and get a feel for her sea legs. and once we started moving she didn't quite know what to think; she was excited and ready for something new, but you could see the tenseness in her body. she basically spent most of the trip with her two front legs hanging off the side of the raft and her back legs close behind, so every time you looked at her you thought for sure she was on the edge of falling in. She did fall in a few times and when this happened she would swim a few strokes and then come quickly back to the raft and try to get in. when i threw her in the water it was another story. she would actually go looking for the ball and then try to bring it back. she likes the water but give her dry land and a ball and she'll go for hours. the trip was good and she had a good time sniffing the water and checking out the ducks swimming by and everything else that was going on. but this is where the traumatization starts i think.
it was starting to get later in the evening and patrice and donkey had stuff they had to get to. we had passed the spot where i finished the trip a few weeks ago and they were starting to think we'd passed the spot where we should exit the water. so we pulled off to the side and i hiked up to see if i could find the car. i was able to locate the spot, but thought it would be too much of a walk to take all the supplies there. but donkey wanted to walk there and i didn't think it would be that much further floating down the river. so donkey took nelly and set off for the car. patrice and i pushed the stuff back in the water and started floating along. we went for a while and i felt like we'd probably passed our get out point so we pulled off again. i located the get out point in the water but now realized that where we parked the car was next to an isolated pond (check the aerial, and map out) and not the actual moving section of the river. so patrice and i grabbed all the stuff and dropped it into the pond (which mind you was a good amount of stuff to move over land). we finally paddled our way back and pulled the supplies out. donkey and the car and nelly were no where to be seen... five minutes later they showed up and it turns out they got lost looking for the car and had just got there right before us.
anyway, we packed up all the stuff and still had to get my car back at the starting point. we decided to transfer all the supplies to patrice's car (as it was parked outside of the park we were at) and she would take me and nelly back to my car because it was on the way to her grandparents. at this point all of our essentials: drivers license, cell phones, clothes are in my car. we head off and get to the other park, right before we get there i realize donkey has the keys to my car. shoot we're screwed, we don't have a phone to call her either. so we head on over to patrice's grandparents. they're out at the ranch and of course there's family over, patrice's dad, two aunts, 3 dogs, and grandparents. i've only got my swim trunks on and walk in the door. ah how nice a half naked boy at the house. fairly funny, so i called up kev got donkey's number and called her. she realizes has my key and leaves it for us to pick up. after visiting with the family we take off to go get the key. by this point it's about 10:30p... so we get the key and head back to the park. we get to the park and everything is locked up, they close at 10p! I can't even get my car out now. great, i'm never going to get my car back.
we walk in get our essentials and load my car with all the equipment. remember nelly is still with us this whole time. so patrice takes me up to placerville and nelly and i stay the night there. i swear that dog does not sleep. she must have missed shelton or something because she was walking around all night, i couldn't get her to sleep. by the time i got my car and got home the next day it was probably 4p and nelly was still trying to figure out if she was on the water or at home or where shelton was or a million other things. I took her back home and she looked all confused. she wasn't doing her usual jumping up in the air tons of energy routine. she was just sitting there quietly and letting me pet her. i figured she must finally be tired or something, so left her for the night. i came back by in the morning and she was still the same way, so now i think i've traumatized her or something. hopefully she'll be back to herself when shelton gets back...crazy doggie!!!
¶ 8:57 AM
shelton took off for the weekend and asked if i could check on nelly and make sure she still had water, etc. He did say water..., so i took her with me when i went tubing down the american river on friday with donkey and resse. we hooked up two rafts, a large mattress, and had a tube along as well for the trip. one raft was filled with goodies: an ice chest with food and water, life jackets, floatie noodles, squirt gun, radio, sun screen, and a few other essentials. the other raft was designated as the nelly vessel and whomever wanted to doggie-sit at the time. the mattress was the sun-bathing spot, while the tube offered freedom of movement.
when we got down to the water for the first time nelly went splashing around and proved to be a water dog. i picked her up and set her down in the raft. she seemed to be ok with it and was kind of standing trying to figure out the balance and get a feel for her sea legs. and once we started moving she didn't quite know what to think; she was excited and ready for something new, but you could see the tenseness in her body. she basically spent most of the trip with her two front legs hanging off the side of the raft and her back legs close behind, so every time you looked at her you thought for sure she was on the edge of falling in. She did fall in a few times and when this happened she would swim a few strokes and then come quickly back to the raft and try to get in. when i threw her in the water it was another story. she would actually go looking for the ball and then try to bring it back. she likes the water but give her dry land and a ball and she'll go for hours. the trip was good and she had a good time sniffing the water and checking out the ducks swimming by and everything else that was going on. but this is where the traumatization starts i think.
it was starting to get later in the evening and patrice and donkey had stuff they had to get to. we had passed the spot where i finished the trip a few weeks ago and they were starting to think we'd passed the spot where we should exit the water. so we pulled off to the side and i hiked up to see if i could find the car. i was able to locate the spot, but thought it would be too much of a walk to take all the supplies there. but donkey wanted to walk there and i didn't think it would be that much further floating down the river. so donkey took nelly and set off for the car. patrice and i pushed the stuff back in the water and started floating along. we went for a while and i felt like we'd probably passed our get out point so we pulled off again. i located the get out point in the water but now realized that where we parked the car was next to an isolated pond (check the aerial, and map out) and not the actual moving section of the river. so patrice and i grabbed all the stuff and dropped it into the pond (which mind you was a good amount of stuff to move over land). we finally paddled our way back and pulled the supplies out. donkey and the car and nelly were no where to be seen... five minutes later they showed up and it turns out they got lost looking for the car and had just got there right before us.
anyway, we packed up all the stuff and still had to get my car back at the starting point. we decided to transfer all the supplies to patrice's car (as it was parked outside of the park we were at) and she would take me and nelly back to my car because it was on the way to her grandparents. at this point all of our essentials: drivers license, cell phones, clothes are in my car. we head off and get to the other park, right before we get there i realize donkey has the keys to my car. shoot we're screwed, we don't have a phone to call her either. so we head on over to patrice's grandparents. they're out at the ranch and of course there's family over, patrice's dad, two aunts, 3 dogs, and grandparents. i've only got my swim trunks on and walk in the door. ah how nice a half naked boy at the house. fairly funny, so i called up kev got donkey's number and called her. she realizes has my key and leaves it for us to pick up. after visiting with the family we take off to go get the key. by this point it's about 10:30p... so we get the key and head back to the park. we get to the park and everything is locked up, they close at 10p! I can't even get my car out now. great, i'm never going to get my car back.we walk in get our essentials and load my car with all the equipment. remember nelly is still with us this whole time. so patrice takes me up to placerville and nelly and i stay the night there. i swear that dog does not sleep. she must have missed shelton or something because she was walking around all night, i couldn't get her to sleep. by the time i got my car and got home the next day it was probably 4p and nelly was still trying to figure out if she was on the water or at home or where shelton was or a million other things. I took her back home and she looked all confused. she wasn't doing her usual jumping up in the air tons of energy routine. she was just sitting there quietly and letting me pet her. i figured she must finally be tired or something, so left her for the night. i came back by in the morning and she was still the same way, so now i think i've traumatized her or something. hopefully she'll be back to herself when shelton gets back...crazy doggie!!!
¶ 8:57 AM
Comments:
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Ok...so what phil is telling us...
1) Be careful leaving dogs or small children with him.
2) Be careful what you are answering "ok" or "yes" to...might need to seek an attorney to clarify what permission you are granting: "water in bowl at residence of Shelton in Natomas, CA that Nelly uses to drink and stay hydrated" vs "water in CA". (Darn California Department of Water guys...)
3) Be careful utilizing Phil as a shuttle system.
4) Have a spare shirt for Phil if in proximity of your family!
5) And lastly dogs need to be exposed to boats on dry land before adding the variable of motion from water.
Glad Nelly made it home safely and you had a fun time on the river...
-jonesy
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1) Be careful leaving dogs or small children with him.
2) Be careful what you are answering "ok" or "yes" to...might need to seek an attorney to clarify what permission you are granting: "water in bowl at residence of Shelton in Natomas, CA that Nelly uses to drink and stay hydrated" vs "water in CA". (Darn California Department of Water guys...)
3) Be careful utilizing Phil as a shuttle system.
4) Have a spare shirt for Phil if in proximity of your family!
5) And lastly dogs need to be exposed to boats on dry land before adding the variable of motion from water.
Glad Nelly made it home safely and you had a fun time on the river...
-jonesy
# posted by 
: 8:51 AM
: 8:51 AM<< Home
