I'm just lucky he doesn't have thumbs

Seamus is a wonderful dog, a splendid pup, a most beloved hound, almost perfect in every single way. However, every so often he goes through a troublesome phase. See, Seamus is not fixed. He had heartworms when we got him, so he couldn't have surgery, and by the time he could have surgery he had started having seizures. So no unnecessary surgeries for my boy. That means that a couple of times per year we have to put up with him being an annoying, fussy, lovesick little guy when some girl dog in the neighborhood goes into heat. We're very responsible and don't let him breed puppies or anything, but it's not for lack of trying on his part.

Unfortunately, now it is his little girlfriend Lucy who is in heat. He wants to go looking for Lucy on a normal day, so he's being triply insistent about wanting to go out and see her. On Sunday night we were watching a movie in the basement and we could hear him running, click click click in to the kitchen to stare intensely out the back window, pause, and then click click click back toward the front of house to stare out the window by the front door. I've actually kicked him out of the bedroom at night for the last couple of nights because the constant pacing, sighing and flopping was keeping me awake. At one point he actually went in to the bathroom and started pushing the trash can around with his nose. In the middle of the night! It's like hanging out with a dog who is trying to quit smoking. Last night he tried to wake me up at 3:30, 5 am and 6 am by poking his head in the bedroom and shaking his ears at me.

Thankfully, this shouldn't last much longer. I sure hope it doesn't! Any second now I expect to see him pouring over a set of engineering plans and conferring with a motley assortment of animal pals on a scheme to first tunnel out of our house and then go down through the chimney into hers, Oceans Eleven style. There'll be a parrot lookout, a monkey working electronics, a cat burglar (of course), a squirrel for roof work, a field mouse to be the inside man, a gopher to help dig any tunnels, and perhaps a fast-talking meerkat who can help them get equipment. You laugh, but he is one determined little guy.