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the floor is lava
Mar. 18th, 2022 08:18 pmC and I are taking a long weekend on Whidbey Island for our anniversary (observed).* we're in a ridiculously well-appointed cottage on a farmette with goats and chickens, surrounded by lush NW woods. i think the only thing missing from the kitchen was a meat thermometer. (like, there's an espresso machine and an immersion blender and a waffle maker and some kind of milk foaming machine in addition to the usual pots and pans.) the hosts are ridiculously friendly and have already given us fresh eggs and a chunk of the smoked cheddar that they make on top of the local mead that was waiting for us in the fridge when we arrived.
yesterday started out like it should: we went out for breakfast in a nearly empty restaurant near home, packed our things at a reasonable pace, and had an easy time getting a ferry and finding the place. when we moved our things inside, the dog wasn't exploring the space, she was staying right by the door.
well, it turns out she was hanging out by the door because there's a runner there. she did come upstairs early on when i called her to come with me, and then she went right back by the door. she takes time to get used to new spaces, so i didn't think much of it until i was ready for bed and called her to come with me. she scrabbled a bit coming over, then skidded on the stairs and rushed back to the runner by the door and cowered there, shaking.
the flooring everywhere in the place is very smooth wood laminate.
she won't put a paw on the floor, the floor is lava. last night was rough; she was refusing her favorite treats and not touching her food, which is her signal of extreme agitation and distress. we finally got something in her by spreading wet food on a plastic lid and holding it for her to lick since she wouldn't touch it if we put it on the floor in front of her. and i realized: our kitchen has flooring like the flooring here.** i never observed her having any traction issues in our kitchen, but now i'm positive that we were making her do the equivalent of negotiating a sheet of ice every time she wanted to eat or drink, for years. so i had a meltdown. i was so damn tired and so very guilty, and i felt like a total fuckup.
we pulled out the sofabed so that we could be near her instead of going to a location she couldn't get to at all, since she was so miserable. the sofabed, unlike the lovely bed upstairs, has a shit mattress where you can feel all the support bars. i slept hard once i fell asleep, but i've been wrecked all day today. it's not just the mattress, the feeling reminds me of the kind of shaky post-adrenaline feel i get after falling down and picking myself up again.
we collected every throw and area rug in the place, plus the yoga mats,*** and have patched together a dog-safe area on the main floor that covers most of the living area where we hang out. i did some research and learned that we had also done her a disservice by not having her nails short enough - they dig in with them like cleats when they need traction, and if they're too long on slippy surfaces the dog ends up lifting their paw pads off the floor when they try to grip and it makes things worse. fortunately the local pet store does walk-in nail trims, so that's done (she hated it). she's still mostly hanging out in her safe place, but i've coaxed her in by the couch a few times today. so maybe she'll feel up to exploring the carpet archipelago before we go home.
i think tonight we're going to try sleeping upstairs because the sofabed isn't sustainable. i considered trying to take her back home for boarding, but they want a vaccination for canine influenza that we haven't gotten yet, so that's just another way that we're failures at taking care of the dog. maybe in time we'll laugh about this.
*it's actually the Ides of March but having an event/travel on a Tuesday is just weird. on the actual evening we went out to dinner at the same place we went in 2020. besides being a gluten-free kitchen, they're still asking for vax cards, bless them
**we had trouble when her food was in the kitchen - she wouldn't go in if anyone else was there, and howled when any visitor got near the kitchen doorway. we thought she was unhappy about the confined space - it's narrow and has one entrance. we moved her food station during the pandemic and all skittishness around food ended. she doesn't even care if we step over her while she eats. and while she looks in, she never puts all four paws in the kitchen.
***did i mention this place is ridiculously well-appointed? there's even one of those laptop rests with fans innit.
yesterday started out like it should: we went out for breakfast in a nearly empty restaurant near home, packed our things at a reasonable pace, and had an easy time getting a ferry and finding the place. when we moved our things inside, the dog wasn't exploring the space, she was staying right by the door.
well, it turns out she was hanging out by the door because there's a runner there. she did come upstairs early on when i called her to come with me, and then she went right back by the door. she takes time to get used to new spaces, so i didn't think much of it until i was ready for bed and called her to come with me. she scrabbled a bit coming over, then skidded on the stairs and rushed back to the runner by the door and cowered there, shaking.
the flooring everywhere in the place is very smooth wood laminate.
she won't put a paw on the floor, the floor is lava. last night was rough; she was refusing her favorite treats and not touching her food, which is her signal of extreme agitation and distress. we finally got something in her by spreading wet food on a plastic lid and holding it for her to lick since she wouldn't touch it if we put it on the floor in front of her. and i realized: our kitchen has flooring like the flooring here.** i never observed her having any traction issues in our kitchen, but now i'm positive that we were making her do the equivalent of negotiating a sheet of ice every time she wanted to eat or drink, for years. so i had a meltdown. i was so damn tired and so very guilty, and i felt like a total fuckup.
we pulled out the sofabed so that we could be near her instead of going to a location she couldn't get to at all, since she was so miserable. the sofabed, unlike the lovely bed upstairs, has a shit mattress where you can feel all the support bars. i slept hard once i fell asleep, but i've been wrecked all day today. it's not just the mattress, the feeling reminds me of the kind of shaky post-adrenaline feel i get after falling down and picking myself up again.
we collected every throw and area rug in the place, plus the yoga mats,*** and have patched together a dog-safe area on the main floor that covers most of the living area where we hang out. i did some research and learned that we had also done her a disservice by not having her nails short enough - they dig in with them like cleats when they need traction, and if they're too long on slippy surfaces the dog ends up lifting their paw pads off the floor when they try to grip and it makes things worse. fortunately the local pet store does walk-in nail trims, so that's done (she hated it). she's still mostly hanging out in her safe place, but i've coaxed her in by the couch a few times today. so maybe she'll feel up to exploring the carpet archipelago before we go home.
i think tonight we're going to try sleeping upstairs because the sofabed isn't sustainable. i considered trying to take her back home for boarding, but they want a vaccination for canine influenza that we haven't gotten yet, so that's just another way that we're failures at taking care of the dog. maybe in time we'll laugh about this.
*it's actually the Ides of March but having an event/travel on a Tuesday is just weird. on the actual evening we went out to dinner at the same place we went in 2020. besides being a gluten-free kitchen, they're still asking for vax cards, bless them
**we had trouble when her food was in the kitchen - she wouldn't go in if anyone else was there, and howled when any visitor got near the kitchen doorway. we thought she was unhappy about the confined space - it's narrow and has one entrance. we moved her food station during the pandemic and all skittishness around food ended. she doesn't even care if we step over her while she eats. and while she looks in, she never puts all four paws in the kitchen.
***did i mention this place is ridiculously well-appointed? there's even one of those laptop rests with fans innit.
