Writer & Rider
He likes my Uggs.
I know Uggs are not entirely fashionable… but I don’t care. My legs and feet hurt basically constantly… and I love my Uggs for comfort no matter what the fashion magazines are saying is “in” this season.
And apparently, slippers also make a good doggie pillow, too.
We spent most of the drive to and from Oregon in various versions of this. Cassius, I think, relished the opportunity to cuddle for hours.
He did splendidly on our first long car trip and vacation, and adapted to everything. He loved meeting all my family, although he was so tired by the end of the day both days! Looking cute takes energy, you know.
We even experienced the Black Bear Diner in Redding, with everything bear motif you can imagine. Cassius was not fazed and I think from the look on his face, he’s wondering what the fuss is about!
This video literally made me cry.
As someone who went through 10+ years of speech therapy due to Moebius syndrome (facial pareisis), I can’t tell you how much I would have benefited from having a facility dog there! I actually didn’t mind my private speech therapy sessions, usually (I was lucky to have a few really good therapists). But doing it week after week, year after year gets a bit old.
Speech is also funny when it comes to my dog. Cassius understands me perfectly. I actually don’t get mis-understood that much anymore (I think thanks to all that TalkTools work I did), but when I do… I can’t help but think “hey, if a dog can understand me… you should be able to figure it out!”
I know, not particularly nice. But I can’t help myself since I now have a yellow, furry, slobbery guy who understands me perfectly.
So Cassius and I goofed in our final certification. At the last food drop, he gobbled down a piece of food. I was kind of surprised, as he has been good at not going for food-but I also don’t purposefully launch food at him! So inspired by a bunch of puppy raisers who are doing this, we successfully did this today! Not so much as a look at the food. Good boy!
In which Natalie realizes how hard self-portrait-with-dog is. And Cassius tries to figure out how he ended up with this human who won’t stop taking his picture.
Natalie Abbott