a wordless weimaraner wednesday.

i took atlas back to the sandy river delta (that’s where life with splint began) last week for his first off-leash hike since october. he was so happy. happy happy happy. he raced up and down the trail ahead of me.

half of me was happy with and for him. half of me was inwardly wringing my hands and thinking, “slow down, little puppy, slow down. why can’t you be more cautious? what if we just walked. slowly.”

i did manage to keep my thoughts and my hand-wringing to myself. not that atlas would have listened anyway.

in other news, i am pretty sure the hair on atlas’s chin has turned silver. unless it was always silver – it’s so hard to remember. i don’t want my puppy to have silver hair! i know he’s almost ten, but i want him to stay young forever.

isn’t he handsome. i think he is the best and smartest and sweetest and most handsome dog in the whole wide world. (with the exception of your dog, of course. your dog is too.)

i love him times a million billion and seventy three forty seven.

i want to reach through the screen and wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him on the cheek. which he doesn’t love, but will occasionally tolerate. lucky for me, i can just turn around and do it. shhhhhh. don’t tell him i’m coming!

i was trying to tease the toy out of his mouth so we could go for a walk, even though i know better.

a couple of weeks ago, the vet called to check on atlas. when i told her that he was still limping, she wanted to put him back in the splint for a week. i said no, but i did agree to a few days of inactivity.

during his inactivity – which, i should mention, he opposed – i asked someone else to watch atlas walk so i could get a second opinion on the limp, just in case i was imagining things.

he figured it out!

while atlas was in the splint, he developed a habit of stomping the splinted foot extra-hard against the ground.

(he has a habit of marching in place so whenever he stood in front of the counter at the pet store, he looked like he was stomping his foot impatiently. it was pretty cute.)

it turned out that the habit stuck. when atlas walked, he was still stomping that foot extra-hard against the ground. as a result, that front leg/shoulder wasn’t moving the same as the other leg/shoulder and it resembled a limp.

boy was i relieved.

we’re still increasing our distance; in another few weeks, life should be back to normal again.

dogs make such good adventure buddies. they don’t mind tromping through snow-covered bushes and brambles so you can take pictures of some weeds you spotted in a field. in fact, they are probably leading the way. plus, they look awfully cute with snow on their nose.

{an extremely irregular series inspired by kelly, in which atlas dispenses pearls of wisdom}

“when there is a patch of sunlight in the living room in winter, go and lie in it. it feels so good.”

in case you’re wondering, atlas is splintless. the bone is still knitting itself together but his limp is slowly fading and our walks are getting a little bit longer.

if i had a dollar for every time i’ve tried and failed to get atlas to hold a pose or strike a pose, i would have a lot of dollars. he has the uncanny knack of moving every single time i grab my camera to capture him as he is. sometimes i wonder if he does it on purpose. this picture is no exception. he was sitting on the bed at the time and i noticed that he looked exactly like he did in what is probably one of my best and favorite photos of him from a long time ago. i wanted to capture it again and admire how young he looks (or, i suppose, how old he looked in the original photo). of course, as soon as i pulled out the camera, he laid down. apparently i need to work on the command, “lift your head up!”

atlas must’ve been very noticeable with his splint on. whenever we’re out and about, we get stopped by people i don’t recognize who want to say, “he got his cast off! yay! how is he doing?”

there is no question who is taking who for a walk these days. if i do say so myself, i walk very nicely on leash.

or a second couch.

don’t you agree?

i suppose the other option would be a smaller dog, but that’s just silly. i like my giant one immensely.

p.s. there are still a few 2013 atlas calendars left, in case you were interested.

last week, atlas and i were napping on the couch. when he was tired of lying next to me, he got up and moved to the end of the couch. i rolled over onto my side, only to feel the hard splint in my back. sleepily, i thought, “why is the splint here when atlas is there?”

needless to say, that sleepy thought woke me right up.

i still don’t know how he did it.

when i sat up to investigate, the splint was right where it is in the picture. it wasn’t stuck in the couch cushion. i definitely didn’t feel him wiggling around like he was trying to get it off. and as you can see, it is perfectly intact.

i spent the whole morning telling him that he was a genius.

alas for atlas, that wasn’t the end of the splint. it was going to be until he limped over to me with the expression that says “i am really really hurting”, an expression that i rarely see. i brought him to the vet immediately to have them put it back on him.

p.s. there are still some calendars left, if you want to spend 2013 with atlas!

just for fun, i made an atlas calendar. i liked it so much that i ordered eight of them. two calendars are already spoken for, so i have six available.

they’re desk calendars, 5×11 in size, with a built-in easel for display on your desk.

i’ll also request your birthday month and atlas will send you a birthday card next year. (if you don’t like birthdays, or like your birthday month to remain a secret, he’ll send you an un-birthday card sometime during the year.)

the cost is $27, which includes shipping.

want to spend 2013 with atlas?

this offering is no longer available. come back next year!