I walked out into the backyard this afternoon to throw the ball a little for the boy.  He’s been restless today.  Sometimes he gets like that.  Usually chewing on a bully (which I gave him) or throwing the ball a couple of times in the house (which I did), or letting him sit on my lap and petting him (also did) work to assuage his anxiousness.  Not today.  He is sort of a high strung anxious little guy sometimes.  So outside I went, in my lounge pants (AKA pajama bottoms) that I’m still wearing.  Yes, the advantages of Karen and I working from home is the ability to stay dressed down for the day.  Until we have to go out in public that is, but that’s a topic for another day.  Back to Alfie… or more accurately, Weston.  I was kind of desperate to have him quit bugging me.  I love him, but having him come up to me and nudge my hand, or bark at me, or whatever over and over today was getting on my nerves.  So out into the backyard, in my lounge pants, I went.  I threw the ball for him a few times.  Riley also got in on the action a little… in all ways actually.  She chewed on the bully, tugged on her brown thing (formerly a stuffed monkey, now just the brown thing), chased Weston’s ball in the house, and got her own lap sitting complete with a pet or two.  She was also in on the outside ball throwing action.  We also just took them for a short walk around a couple of blocks… not in our lounge pants (Karen had to get out of the house and off the phone for 30 minutes… it’s a bad one today for her)… but again, I digress.  So while we were outside, the dogs and I that is, in the backyard (me in my lounge pants), I noticed Alfie.  He was laying near the back steps.  Poor guy.  I picked him up and found, for the third or fourth time since he’s been a part of the family, that he was soaking wet.  Weston, who has taken a particular shine to Alfie, carries him around sometimes.  Sometimes that means he carries Alfie outside.  And sometimes he gets distracted by a squirrel, drops Alfie, and forgets to bring him back in the house.  If we notice Alfie out there at night, which we have in the past when we take the pups out for their last constitution before bed, we tell Weston to get Alfie and bring him in, which he does.  Pretty cute actually.  I say… “Weston, go get Alfie.  Get him. Good boy!” and he does.  He will go get him.  But today, Alfie’s fate was not of the warm and dry kind.  He was soaking.  Forgotten yesterday by Weston outside and left to weather the storm on his own.  Poor Alfie.

After I saw Alfie I brought him in, of course, and propped him up on the kitchen counter to dry.  It’s his normal drying spot.  Seems to work.  Weston will miss him until Alfie re-joins the fold, but it has to be done.

And speaking of Weston missing him… this is interesting.  Weston has never really taken any particular interest in any one toy.  He loves chasing and catching the ball the most and will occasionally carry around the Mailman or the Hedgehog.  Both of which have stayed in tact, a sure sign he likes them as he hasn’t chewed the stuffing out of them.  But that’s about it… he will carry one around for awhile and then put it down, forgotten for quite a long time until the next time he picks one up and carries it around.  Alfie is different.  We picked up Alfie, and his co-hort Squiggy, when we stopped at Praireland Feeds (where we buy the pup’s food) on my birthday weekend as we headed out of town.  I noticed this little bin of stuffed things and thought the pups needed a little treat for the trip so I picked up a red and green one.  The naming of them happened after we got home from the weekend.  Weston took a particular liking to red, later named Alfie.  He started carrying him around everywhere.  He brought him to bed with him, something he’s never done with anything other than a bully stick before (which we don’t let him have in bed by the way), carried him outside when he went out to do his business, brought him downstairs to the media room when we went down to watch TV at night, and had him with him when he took his naps.  He has never done this and it’s kind of cute.  He and Alfie have become fast fast friends.  Squiggy gets a tad bit of attention, but he’s usually a meager substitute for Alfie when Alfie is out of commission, like he is today.

Weston will be happy when Alfie dries off and is dropped back on the floor.  I’m sure he and his little buddy will be stuck like glue again, until the next time he’s left outside and gets showered on.

Meet Alfie…