"Groundhog Day"

The days of The Summer of Gucci are virtually indistinguishable from each other.  I find him sprawled out asleep in our bedroom at 6AM.  I pick him up and carry him outside, and I steady him on the grass in the backyard.  He takes a step and falls.  I lift him back to all fours and he steps and falls again.  I lift him back to  a standing position,  and he takes a few steps before falling. Eventually he gets going and sets himself in peeing position.  After he pees I wait to see if he wants to continue walking to the fence.  When he stops I go get him and bring him to his water bowl outside.  He drinks a lot.  When he is finished I carry him inside to his dish .  I get his medicine and put it in a spoonful of peanut butter.  If I'm lucky he will take peanut butter pill and all. Sometimes he eats the peanut butter and leaves the pill.  Then I get another spoonful of peanut butter and try again.  After his medicine,  I feed him his bones and dog food by hand because he can no longer stand or sit in front of his bowl for a prolonged period of time.  When he is done I carry him to the living room where he stays and sleeps,  and usually stays in the same spot until I carry him out again, and we repeat the whole process.

Sometimes he stays out when Jane or I are outside.  He either sits on the deck or lays in the grass.  He will occasionally get up and walk around.  We need to make sure we give him and opportunity to dump.  This is difficult for him, and in the process of going he sometimes loses his balance and falls down.  This morning he went right after peeing early in the morning.  I thought he was done for the day.  Typically after he has been out he is good for 2-3 hours.  I go ride the bike or go to the gym.  Today I left for an hour and a half.   When I came back he had dumped on the rug.  I was surprised because just before I left he was outside with me for 2 hours and he had dumped once already in the morning.  I think he knows it is wrong to go in the house, but I do not get angry with him because I feel he is disappointed in himself.

Tomorrow we will do this all over again. Hopefully he will not have and accident.  The  Summer of Gucci continues.