I was awaken around 3:30 by
Tommy. I also heard the air conditioning
kick in around the same time. I know how sensitive Tommy is to noises, so I
figured that since I hadn’t used the air conditioning much this summer, she
wasn’t used to those sounds in the middle of the night. She jumped up on the bed and I was able to
calm her down.
At 6:30 the garbage truck came to
retrieve the trash. This means that several metal dumpsters will be grabbed,
lifted and overturned. It’s actually pretty noisy and Tommy was sitting by the
window complaining. We talked and then she did something that she hadn’t done
for a few days; she jumped up next to me in her usual morning fashion. We spent
the next few minutes greeting each other not only with conversation but also
with Tommy licking my hand and me petting her.
I had missed this ritual and was glad to have it again.
When we got up (There will be naps
later!) I could see that Tommy wanted to play. I decided to use the fleece
teaser (her favorite shared play object) with her scratching post (her favorite
individual activity object) in the bedroom. I wound the fleece around the post
and we spent a good 20-30 minutes playing (including a short food break for
her).
When Tommy indicated that she was
done by leaving the room, I went and made coffee. Tommy amused herself with a
paper grocery bag until I finished. Tommy then went “belly up” so I could do
her morning rubdown. We finished with a short game of hide and seek. Tommy goes
behind an object and peeks around it at me. When I go and find her, she runs
away…whatever amuses her is fine by me as long as it doesn’t entail biting or
destruction.
When I went to handle the computer
work, Tommy came in after a short time to check up on me and have a short petting/rubbing
period. She then decided to go to the living room to amuse herself with the
paper bag and then to sit quietly and wait for me to finish. The first few hours of our morning have
worked out well today.
The rest of the morning was spent
with me doing chores (laundry, cleaning, etc.) and Tommy napping, playing and
getting attention from the worker/drone/slave/owner. She did start enjoying a
new “toy.” On Friday as I was searching for collar stays, I came across a
Hilfiger watch pillow. I don’t know why I kept it, but I gave it to Tommy and
she tossed, chewed, and generally mauled it. I also put a treat in the fold
where the watch was and catnip in the stuffing. She had great fun finding the
treat and the catnip scent has made the object a bit more enticing.
Later in the morning I called my
aunt in Madison to see how her therapy was coming along and when she’d be
released to go back home. I wondered how Tommy would handle an extended phone
call. She usually thinks that I’m talking to her and has trouble understanding
why I’m not usually looking at her.
During the call she amused herself
with Mr. Rat and the grocery bag, but introduced us to a new
sound/vocalization. I called it a yowl because it sounded like a cross between
a yelp and a howl. I could have also called it a “help” or a “holp,” but those
just don’t sound right. It was loud enough that even my aunt who has some
hearing difficulty heard her loud and clear on her end of the phone even though
Tommy was about 12 feet from the phone. I’m not sure what the sound means
because she didn’t seem to be needing attention as she wasn’t even in sight nor
did she seem to be stressed. Maybe it was just a happy sound since she was
having so much fun playing.
After a busy morning and early
afternoon, Tommy decided that it was nap time and curled up in her soft bed by
the living room window. I got ready to
leave which usually gets her attention, but not today. I very gently picked up
her bed which caused her to open her eyes. She didn’t fight or try even try to
get out, but just enjoyed the ride and wondered, I’m sure, where I was going
with this. When I placed the bed by the bedroom window Tommy sat up and “asked”
what was going on. When she figured it
out, she jumped on the big bed and waited for her treat. I gave her the treat,
said good bye, and left for the baseball game.
When I returned there was the usual
meet and greet. Tommy let me watch the news and then we had our usual before
bed playtime. Play time did have one small incident. As we were racing around
with the fleece teaser, Tommy ran over to me just as I was stepping. Her little
paw got stepped on and she yelped and ran under the bed. After a few minutes of
healing and calming down, I apologized with a treat and Tommy slowly and warily
came back out to play.
Tommy signaled that playtime was over
by hopping up on the bed and curling up. It had been quite some time since she
started bedtime on the bed. I was so pleased and touched by her actions and I,
of course, let her know how happy I was. She responded with a look that seemed
to say to me, “Well, of course, I did this to let you know that all is
forgiven, I’m happy and could you please turn off the light and go to sleep
already!” I complied with a huge smile on my face.
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