Max Keeps His Eye On The Ball

Max: "This ball will not leave my sight!"
(Click picture for larger view)

"It's tough trying to keep your feet on the ground, your head above the clouds, your nose to the grindstone, your shoulder to the wheel, your finger on the pulse, your eye on the ball and your ear to the ground." ~ Proverb

Anyone able to do all of the above at the same time probably winds up looking like a pretzel in a Twister game. Max here does have one aspect down pat; he certainly can keep his eye on the ball. He is the fickle one though, a few weeks ago his favorite toy was his football. Now, the poor football is completely nasty, covered with dirt and pine sap, sitting in a dark corner of the yard totally forgotten along with his purple monster and other previous "favorite toys". It seems that he can only have one at time. Why? Apparently, Max has learned that having two "favorites" puts him at a disadvantage; when his mom throws one and he runs to get it, she just picks up the other one to throw. This means that he is continually running across the yard to fetch. Once is great, twice is OK, but by the third time he is huffing and puffing. (He is fat) That is about all the strenuous exercise he can take at one time. Besides he'd much rather be standing at the fence with his leg hiked up, peeing through the chain-links to the yard next door where there live three dogs that bark at him annoyingly. Then it's time for a nap. He would much rather just sit in the shade, keeping his feet on the ground and his eye on the ball, preferably while reclining on his cushy mattress. Throw in a chewy, a biscuit treat and a couple of ripe figs and he's in heaven.

We have had to nix the fresh figs. He became bloated, distended, rotund, tight as a tick, and looked miserable even if he did not verbally complain. I really thought if he were accidentally stuck with a pin we might see Max flying high over the house in serpentine fashion like a balloon. Hopefully, this mornings trip to the vet and re-assurance to Dr. Mom who was thinking volvulus, intussusception, loss of vascular supply, gangrene of the bowel, peritonitis, peritoneal effusion or metastatic carcinoma, will do the trick. X-rays looked OK, just backed up bowel and some clogged glands adding to the problem. Yes, he just needs to "fluff" and "poop". "It happens you know."

You can see Max and other doggie friends at Carnival of the Dogs this weekend hosted by Mickey's Musings.