WELCOME TO APOLLO

Saturday, May 18, 2024 ; Our neighbour Patti is moving out of Dugald Estates this Victoria Day long weekend, and relocating to a small community near Edmonton, Alberta, to live with her son and daughter-in-law. To facilitate her move-out we are dog sitting her two dogs this weekend ; Peeta, the 12 ½ year old black Labrador, and Apollo, the 12 ½ year old Miniature Schnauzer.

Unfortunately, due to circumstances, she can only take one of the dogs with her. So … as we have known since last fall was a very slight possibility, and have known since early in January was a certainty … Patti will take Peeta with her and will need to leave Apollo behind. With us !

We are thrilled to welcome Apollo to our home. It has been over three years since we’ve had a pet, and we are more than ready to have Apollo become part of our family.

Today (Saturday) and tomorrow Patti will be packing and loading, with the assistance of her Alberta son who is flying in this afternoon.

Peeta and Apollo came over to our suite at noon today. We cared for them for two weeks last summer when Patti was away on vacation, and we have visited with them frequently, so they are both comfortable with us. Since we returned a month and a half ago from our winter in Mexico Apollo has been over for a few “sleepovers”, to help him become accustomed to living with us. He even spent an overnight here while we were fostering Tigger the fat cat. She was not thrilled with his presence, but everybody survived.

The afternoon was uneventful. In the evening Peeta became restless and stressed. He’s aware that “something is afoot” because Patti has been packing for the move for awhile already. And Peeta is “concerned” whenever he is away from Patti. So … I brushed him. That calmed him a lot. Fortunately Apollo does not suffer the same “concerns” and stress. He happily comes to live with us. He happily returns to Patti. I hope that holds true once Patti and Peeta are both gone in a couple of days.

Sunday, May 19 ; We had a bit of a rough night. The dogs are on a different schedule than Joanne and me. They were ready for sleep last night before we were. That’s not a problem. But … they were ready to get up long before us. Especially Peeta who wanted to go outside to relieve himself at 5 AM. Then he wanted breakfast at 6 AM. Then Apollo wanted to go out at 6:30 AM. Then they both wanted the day to really get started before 9 AM. Apollo wanted breakfast. Peeta wanted MORE breakfast. Hey … he’s a lab ! Then they both wanted their long morning walk. <sigh> OK !

As we returned from their long morning walk Patti and her son were just arriving back home from picking up their rented U-Haul trailer. Peeta and Apollo “said hello” to them, then surprisingly to us, happily returned to our suite without showing signs of stress from leaving Patti again.

We had a pleasant afternoon, working on chores, enjoying the fine weather. Apollo followed one or both of us around like a little sidekick. Peeta moped around feeling sorry for himself, worrying that maybe Patti was abandoning him. Late in the afternoon we went for another long walk, our farewell walk with Peeta.

Shortly after 8 PM Patti showed up to retrieve Peeta, and say farewell to us … and Apollo. She will be leaving early tomorrow morning, before we are awake. I quickly took Apollo outside for a walk, leaving Joanne to say goodbye to Patti and Peeta, and to help Patti take Peeta and his stuff back to her suite for their last night here.

When I returned to our suite with Apollo, to our surprise, his spirits immediately sunk very low. It seemed as if he finally realized he was being abandoned by Patti and Peeta. Poor, sweet, little fellow. We had not expected this. He is usually such a cheerful little fellow, we never anticipated he would “crash” like that. We spent the rest of the evening trying to console him and make him feel better. We didn’t really succeed.

Monday, May 20 ; Well … upon arising this morning, Apollo is “officially” ours. Welcome home, sweet little boy ! We promise to take very good care of you. We will lovingly help you to adapt to your new reality.

His spirit was improved this morning, although he was still uncharacteristically subdued. And he was disinterested in eating. I have been eager to try adding some yogurt into his diet for its probiotic value. Apollo has previously had some intestinal (pancreatic ?) issues. I added some yogurt to his food this morning, and it did entice him to eat a bit, but not much.

Once Joanne was out of bed (Apollo and I were up before her) his spirit improved even more, and he initiated play with one of his favourite squeaky toys. We took that as a good sign that he will soon bounce back to his normal, high-spirited self.

Right after lunch we left to run some errands in Winnipeg, and to visit Joanne’s sister to introduce Apollo. We have kept our “adoption” of Apollo a secret until today. Yes, yes … Joanne’s sister was surprised ! While we visited with Lorraine in her backyard, Apollo explored the yard. It was a great outing. The car ride, visiting, and exploring all lifted Apollo’s spirits immensely.

After visiting with Lorraine we drove to a garden centre in South St. Vital to buy vegetable seeds and plants. We will be planting a vegetable garden in a few days. We left Apollo in the car, parked in the shade, with partially open windows while we shopped. We want him to accept that practice, and behave well when we leave him in the car briefly.

We might have a way to go with that. While we shopped we could hear him barking in the car. Hopefully we can modify that behaviour over time.

This evening at home he seemed quite tired. I suppose it was both an exciting and stressful first day for him with us.

Good boy, Apollo !

Tuesday, May 20 ; Another big day for Apollo ! This morning we took our neighbour Glennis’s small puppy for a walk with us, which we have offered to Glennis to start doing on a daily basis. Glennis acquired Gracie last fall at the age of two months, so Gracie is about ten months old now. And … is quite a handful for Glennis, who is … well … elderly.

Gracie benefited greatly from having a long walk. It allowed her to exercise off a lot of excess energy. Glennis can’t take Gracie for walks. Today Gracie began to learn to “pack walk”, an exercise that we have always considered a very important part of a dog’s social development. And it allowed Apollo to exercise some of his “alpha dog” dominant tendencies, acting as a mentor for Gracie. Win, win !

Joanne went to run errands all afternoon. Apollo and I gardened. I took him with me to our community’s garden plot area, and I worked on preparing our assigned garden plot, which is seven feet by twenty feet. It was already covered in weeds, testament to the fertility of this area’s soil. I weeded it, measured it, roped it off, and marked it with stakes every eighteen inches, to define my planting rows. I worked on the garden for at least a couple of hours. The entire time Apollo sat nearby, watching the world go by, visiting with our neighbours / condo residents as they happened by. Twice I left him sitting alone in the garden while I returned to our suite for a few minutes to get stuff I needed. He sat patiently and attentively waiting for me to return.

Good boy, Apollo !

Wednesday, May 21 ; And yet another big day for Apollo. And again he was a very good boy ! And … we tired him out … again.

Immediately after lunch we all loaded into the minivan and headed into the city to run errands, mostly shopping for Apollo stuff. First we picked up a home fire extinguisher that I had sent in for inspection and refurbishment / refilling. Then we headed to PetsMart where we shopped for way too long for supplies for Apollo ; a new harness, a raincoat, biscuits, ear cleaner, and styptic powder. Selecting the right brand and size of harness, then raincoat, took way too long. Sorry, Apollo ! But he was patient, and very well behaved.

As an aside … I was thrilled to buy Apollo a bag of Northern Biscuits. I feel a “connection” to the genesis of Northern Biscuits. Shortly after we began our first (of four) pet food & supply retail stores in Ottawa, in 1990, we were approached by a young married couple from Toronto about our age with a request to “test market” their new “all natural” dog biscuit product. They had a few stores in Toronto trying out their home made product, and on a trip to Ottawa one weekend approached me with a request to be the first store in the Ottawa region to give their biscuits a try. I struck a hard bargain with Nick on a Friday evening for a case of biscuits “on consignment’, with no payment until they were ready to head back to Toronto on Sunday afternoon. No payment on Friday, payment on Sunday only for what I could sell between Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.

Well … shit … I sold the entire case by Sunday afternoon, and people were already returning to buy more ! On Sunday afternoon I paid Nick for the first case, and ordered more to be shipped ASAP ! Eventually Joanne and I became very successful in our pet food & supply retail stores, and obviously so did Nick and Patty with their Northern Biscuit line of all natural dog biscuit products. They’re still going strong. Congratulations, Nick and Patty of Northern Biscuits !

Next store was PET VALU, the chain of stores in which we were franchisees. They certainly have evolved over the last 34 years ! And their stores and staff still have excellent pet food knowledge. We were very impressed with the young woman who served us at the Reenders location. She helped us select a new pet food for Apollo, a Canadian made, limited ingredient, prebiotic and probiotic loaded sensitive stomach and gut formulation. And we purchased some treats in the same product line. Thank you for the PET VALU gift certificate, Patti. We put it to good use.

While Joanne went into Sobey’s for a few grocery items I took Apollo for a walk around the perimeter of the mall parking lot. We refilled the minivan with fuel at Superstore, then headed home to Dugald.

Again … Good boy, Apollo !

Thursday, May 22 ; A nice weather day. I spent the entire afternoon working on preparing and planting our garden plot. Apollo once again joined me as my garden sidekick, sitting or lying contentedly in the garden watching the world go by, occasionally visiting with neighbours.

We are now taking our neighbour Glennis’s ten month old puppy Gracie with us on our twice daily exercise / dog walks. Apollo likes to lead, Gracie likes to follow, he’s a good mentor, she’s a good student. She’s beginning to figure out that our walks have a purpose, and she needn’t rely on her indoor “puppy pads” exclusively. Valuable lesson to learn !

Friday, May 23 ; A terrible weather day, cold and raining. After our somewhat miserable noon time walk two of our neighbours, Nina and Gail, met us coming back indoors with two wet, cold dogs, and accepted our invitation to come into our suite for cookies and tea. Apollo enjoyed visiting !

After their visit we left Apollo alone in our suite for the first time in the week that we’ve had him, while we went to Winnipeg Humane Society to pick up our new foster cat Snooki, who will be with us until June 17. She is being “tested” on a new to her hypoallergenic diet to see if it will reduce her food allergies, and to await dental surgery on June 18.

<whispering> We saw Tigger in the cat adoption wing.

When we returned home after a 2 ½ hour absence one of our neighbours commented that Apollo made a bit of noise during our absence. <shrug> Get over it ! We have to endure sharing a condo community with some of your annoying peculiarities … it’s a two way street !  Apollo has been through a traumatic experience of “abandonment” less than a week ago, he’s still adjusting, overall his behaviour is excellent… yeah, get over it !

Snooki will live in our office / spare bedroom, with the door closed most of the time, we think. When I left the door open, with a baby gate installed, Apollo stared at her for awhile, then barked once. As he did with Tigger a few weeks ago. Same as with Tigger, Snooki did not really appreciate being barked at, so the door to the office will remain closed most of the time.

Saturday, May 24 ; What a miserable weather day ! Cold, windy, raining ! Good practice for us spending next winter on Vancouver Island, I suppose.

We took Apollo and Gracie (neighbour’s puppy) on a morning walk. Miserable ! We took them again on an afternoon walk. A bit less miserable, but still … !

We began to trim Apollo’s nails this afternoon. We didn’t get very far ! I hit the quick (blood filled nerve) on two out of three nails I cut ! ! ! That hurts like hell ! ! ! And bleeds ! Good thing we waited to do this until we bought styptic powder (to stop the bleeding) a few days ago. I’m very sorry, Apollo. I quit after hitting the quick on both the second and third nails I cut. Obviously his nails aren’t as long as I thought they were, or … his quicks extend very far down the length of the nails. <sigh> He has black nails so it’s impossible to see the quick.

Good thing Apollo is so forgiving !

He vomited his meal today. And … <sputter> … so did Snooki (the foster cat). <sigh> Remind me again how much I’ve missed having pets ? ! ?

DSK