Back in December, Kodiak had surgery to repair a cruciate tear, the equivalent of a torn ACL in humans. The immediate aftermath left him with a gimpy leg in a bright blue cast.

It also required us to lay down ugly gray office carpet on all non-carpeted floors to avoid him slipping and hurting himself while he healed. The healing process was to take 4-5 months and in that time he could only go outside on a leash. No more puppy freedom — running, barking and jumping in his precious yard. He was not the only one who suffered. I took for granted a dog that could go outside on his own to use the bathroom.

It was a long winter.

As the weeks went on, the cast came off and Kodiak slowly stopped limping. Although he appeared much better, we still had to wait until the final sign-off from the surgeon before letting him out on his own again.

The final appointment is in two weeks!

As we’ve gotten closer to the appointment, the weather has changed from a wintry gray to warm spring air and sunny afternoons. And boy, does Kodiak know it. He spends his days with his nose pressed up against the window screen, yearning for the outside he knows and loves.

I too am yearning for him to play outside, as he is now blowing his winter coat, leaving hair ALL OVER my house (and all the additional rugs we’ve had to add) and causing the need for vacuuming to occur at least every other day, which is three more times than normally necessary when he is shedding normally.

Kodiak does not like the vacuum. Or maybe he loves the vacuum. I can’t tell. Either way, he thinks it’s fun to chase it, jump over it, lie down in front of it and anything else that makes it difficult to clean a house.

Observe (and please ignore my pajama get-up of sweatpants and Michael’s shirt.) (Also, there’s no sound so don’t worry about turning on your volume. All you would have heard anyway is the sound of the vacuum and me asking Kodiak to please stop lying down in front of it.)

Kodiak and the Vacuum  (I’ve had the WORST time trying to post this video so just click on the link to see it!)

After cleaning I decided to do the only thing I could think of that might buy me an extra day without vacuuming: brush him out. So out to the deck we went, brush in hand. Which resulted in this:

No, it’s not a small animal.

Because the day was so beautiful and with proper supervision he’ll stay put on the deck, we decided to sit outside with him while enjoying our morning Starbucks. Gratuitous puppy cuteness ahead.

 

Of course later, he not-so-cutely begged for my Poptart while showing off his giant eye boogie.

Oh, dogs.