Macallan is doing well in his new home. Everyone who meets him agrees that he's an absolute sweetheart. I think we'll have a long and happy life together.
If he doesn't give me a heart attack first.
On Tuesday, I had to chase him for the better part of a block after he broke loose from his leash.
On Wednesday, he decided he just HAD to get into the room where the cats were hiding... at the exact moment when one of my clients was having a crisis and my husband was on a conference call. My daughter and I could not figure out how to get the dog to stop barking, so I ended up taking him on a really long walk (and prayed he wouldn't repeat the trick with the leash).
Yesterday, I returned home after picking my daughter up from school and found him wedged in a corner of our yard, between the concrete block wall and a post holding up our pool fence. I had not thought the space was wide enough for that to happen... but obviously, I was wrong. The poor dog must have been on his hind legs to reach a spot that was just wide enough to poke his head through...
...and then he got stuck like Pooh. He was understandably a very unhappy and uncomfortable boy.
Megan and I spent about a half hour trying to lift him back up to get him out of his predicament. We couldn't budge him. I was worried he would choke or wind up badly scraped and after about 30 minutes of trying, I called my friend Mary Ellen (who is a dog person) to see if she had any suggestions.
She sent her husband, who picked Mac up from behind while I guided his head up through the rift.
Then, he set about blocking the rift with plastic netting to prevent it from happening again.
I am thankful I have some really good friends.
I've been housebound this week, only leaving the dog alone when I have to drive my daughter to and from school. Now, I'm not so so sure I can even do that. When I got back from the drive this morning, I saw that Mac had already destroyed the netting Henry put up yesterday.
I did try taking him with me on Monday morning's drive, but he was a very bad passenger. He did not want to stay in the back seat, and once the kid had left the vehicle, he managed to crawl into the space she vacated. He also turned on my windshield wipers - twice. My husband is convinced that he's somehow going to tear up the car's leather seats, so since then, I've had to put him in the backyard on the few occasions I've had to leave the house.
I see a lot of folks on the road with large dogs and nice cars, so there must be something they use to protect their leather seats, right? I need to research that.
Believe me, when I thought about getting a dog, I did not envision being stuck in the house for days on end. I know this is a transition period - just like having a newborn. And right now, we're in the "we're afraid we'll hurt him" stage. Which isn't too far off the mark.
I had planned to catch up with some of my girlfriends at Panera this morning. Lucky for me, they're an understanding bunch and had no problem moving our meeting to our house. Everyone agrees that Mac is a great dog, and they suggested that we try crate training.
This is something Mary Ellen also swears by, but I had rejected the idea because I figured my husband would not be on board.
I'm now desperate ready to give it a try.
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