One of the things with having a 2 year old lab is coming home from work and wondering how I'm going to get all that pent up energy out of him. I do my best - we play tug with a toy and we take a nice hour long walk. I make sure that he notices his chew bone for a good 15 minutes. Have I mentioned he's holding at 80 pounds now? We're getting there, but there's just no substitute for another dog. We took Shadow to PetSmart the other night and a Yorkie started to pay him attention. He quickly laid down, so she would not be so intimidated and could play with him. That's how bad it is being the only dog in the family. (As a side note, we met up with a Mastiff another night and she laid down for Shadow so that he would not be so intimidated and play with her!)
I was able to setup a playdate for Shadow this morning with two weimaraners, Otto and Boris. We met at industrial park that presently only has the infrastructure and the road is in a nice 1/2 mile long circle. We made the loop about 5-6 times ( I lost count).
I was able to setup a playdate for Shadow this morning with two weimaraners, Otto and Boris. We met at industrial park that presently only has the infrastructure and the road is in a nice 1/2 mile long circle. We made the loop about 5-6 times ( I lost count).
Boris and Shadow
Otto and Shadow
That lasted about an hour and this is what Shadow did when we got home. Hurrah! Mark one on the scoreboard for the humans!
But he wasn't asleep - he was thinking about how hard the floor is! Wouldn't it be great to have a decent dog bed like the humans have?
So I said "Shadow - let's work on your dog bed!" He perked up!
I went to Goodwill and picked up a $4 queen comforter and planned to "stuff it" with an old, torn folded twin memory foam mattress topper. At one bright moment in our lives, we decided at one point to put in the dryer. Many divots and holes resulted. I made a prototype of the dog bed - folded the comforter into a quarter and sandwiched in the foam. Shadow gave his approval. The work begins!
First, you can see how this is going together. The comforter folded in half and then quarters, with the foam in the middle pocket.
I left the foam on the floor and Shadow took his place while I worked.
Then I sewed velcro that I owned to the two ends that would meet, so the foam could be taken out for washing the comforter. Putting the second velcro strip broke two needles... Learned to move all the comforter stuffing out of the way!
After that I sewed the long sides together inside out to make a tube - and then turned it right side out.
From there I sewed the velcro ends to their mating halves.
My intention was to sew then the two sides when it is folded in quarters, but with breaking two needles and I couldn't move the stuffing around on these edges. I stopped. I may go get snaps or grommets. Don't know, but for now it's like a sandwich wrap and we'll see how it holds up that way. Shadow took right to it and continued his nap!
