kaylee & ace day!

I’m not sure why, but this saved as a draft, and didn’t get published. This post is from August 15:

Today marks the beginning of a new holiday in the Doherty house – Kaylee & Ace day! This holiday’s origins:

Kaylee & Ace day was started on August 15, 2014. Kaylee was going to be starting teacher workshop week next week, Monday, and wanted to spend her last day of summer vacation enjoying the sun with her darling pup, Ace. Kaylee got emotional thinking of being away from Ace on a full work day after spending so much time with him this summer. She wanted to do something special for the two of them. So, officially, the week day before summer vacation is over will now be known as Kaylee & Ace Day!

There you have it. It’s official. Today was, in fact, that day. On Monday I will be going into my classroom at 8am and trying to establish some organization, (my classroom post will definitely be on Monday – it’s a cluster!), and Ace will go back to hanging out in his kennel during the day. It breaks my heart 🙁 He has no idea what’s coming. I mean, maybe he does? People say dogs sense changes. So because of this change, I wanted to have a day for Ace. I planned out various activities that he doesn’t normally get to do, captured wonderful shots of our day, & tired us both out!

Our day started at nine this morning. Two words get Ace pacing and whining at the garage door – “Car ride!” He never has a clue where we’re going, but loves to ride in the car!

Ace was basically in heaven! He jumped in and out of the long grasses along the walking path, would sprint ahead of me 100 yards just to sprint back with his tongue hanging out, and greeted every new friend with gentle kisses. It was a gorgeous morning to walk around the park a couple times. We practice recall and Ace was a champ. Our training this summer has definitely helped!

One big step for him was his reaction to the small lake on the dog park property. Last summer when he was a puppy, we took him up to Tony’s cabin on Maple Lake. He wanted nothing to do with the water, and actually was a little freaked out by it’s presence. This summer we really wanted him to warm up to it. Tony’s vision with a dog was always throwing a ball off a dock and having the dog jump in after it. The couple times Tony brought Ace up to his cabin, he always had him by the water, and guess what? He now loves it! However, he can’t really swim… Haha. He literally goes in as deep as he can, but only up to he can touch. It’s pretty humorous to watch.

I had to beg him to keep walking on the path and to leave the water’s edge. I told Tony he has done a great job getting him used to water. It was awesome to see!

Our next stop was for a brand new toy! (Sorry Tony). Ace has a reputation of destroying toys as soon as he receives them, but today – I didn’t care! I wanted to try something new today, something we haven’t attempted before; I was going to bring Ace into PetSmart and let him pick out his own toy – gasp! He’s out of control when on a normal leash, so we’ve always been a bit scared to bring him into such a public setting. Today he was tired out from the dog park, so I figured it would be the perfect time to try!

Ace was definitely unsure when we went inside. It was almost as though he knew we were breaking some kind of rule! I brought him to the toy aisle, and he carefully inspected each toy.

This picture makes me laugh out loud. He got to the end of the aisle and grabbed whatever toy was closest. Again, I swear he’s half human. Like, he knew he had to choose something before his time ran out. The toy he had in his mouth was a stuffed crocodile. I figured it wouldn’t be the best one to get – literally it would last minutes once we got home – but I told myself I was going to let him pick!

However, Ace made his way back down the aisle, the way we came, dropped the croc, and sniffed around for something new. I heard Tony’s voice in my head: It’s not the most important decision you’ve ever made. Just pick something!!

Every time we’re out to dinner, I can never make a decision as to what to order, Tony says, “it’s not your last meal.”

Poor Ace, has my same indecisiveness problem.

Ace did another couple hot laps throughout the toys. I wish I could have read his mind. I would have loved to know what he was thinking sniffing every single toy in the aisle. Was he basing his decision on color? Smell? Sound? Again, I wish I could have read his mind.

The picture isn’t clear, but he finally made his decision. He had a red/orange canvas-like duck. It has a rough outer texture, and I think he liked that it was super soft and squishy like the toy he previously picked. It also had a very loud, duck-call squeaker – which he goes absolutely bonkers over.

We bought our new prize, the cashier made sure to give Ace some love, (& a couple treats – wink), and got into the care for our last stop before heading home. My poor guy was completely wiped. I caught this shot of him when we were stopped at a light.

He had no idea what was coming next! I was sure the second we pulled in to place our order, he would perk right up.

The last stop before heading home – ice cream for breakfast!

This was my favorite part of the day. Ace will do just about anything for ice cream… Yes, he stands on two legs.

 

After ice cream we sat outside, listened to music, and chased birds – what we do best 🙂 It didn’t last all that long – Ace walked the patio steps and sat at the screen door, looking at me.

Translation – nap time.

He ALWAYS lets me know when he wants to go inside and take a little snooze. We do this well, too.

We are known to take floor naps together. Tony laughs at the way I spoon Ace and can drift off to sleep. We are both very content laying on the living room floor, snuggling. It really is one of the things we do best.

 

 

Our day is never complete, however, without sharing a meal. I get in trouble all the time with Tony because I love to share my meals with Ace. I know it creates bad habits, but I absolutely love sharing – it’s a good thing, right?

Overall, my day was one for the books. I literally thought of Ace’s interests the entire day, and let him completely dictate the everything we did. It felt great to let loose, relax, and enjoy my last day smiling at my best friend 🙂