Rainy days mean dips in my wallet.

How wonderful that my day off is a rainy and wet Saturday.  Luckily, Ferguson was able to do some running and get a long walk in before it got too bad, so hopefully he's out for the day.

I'm not totally off, I suppose, as I'm petsitting for Eric's mom while they're out of town, so a few times a day, I take the 20 minute drive over to their house in the country to care for Ella, their dog, and Gracie and Hershey Kiss, their two very friendly adolescent cats. What's funny is that the cats seem to be more interested in me than Ella, who is content after she's let out and eats her meal.  So, today, I'll venture on over again around dinner time.  Maybe the rain will clear up by then.

Ferguson has been doing better on his alone training, and has been left for half an hour without complaint.  At least we didn't have to start back at square one again with 10 seconds. Urg.

As I've been sitting here browsing the Internet, I couldn't help but notice my boy over there on his makeshift bed of a few old pillows with a blanket laid on top.  Not all of him fits on it, and only half of him looks comfortable.  Additionally, the pillows sag the more he sits on them, and probably provides little support.  So, because I love him just oh so much, I splurged a bit and bought him this new fancy orthopedic bed for a nice price of $50. 

What I liked about this bed is that it's XXL, so all of him will fit (a reviewer said that she bought it for her one greyhound, and it ended up being big enough for both the hound, her beagle, and a cat to snuggle in), and it has the "bumpers" since he seems to always end up with his butt hanging off or pushed uncomfortably against the wall, requiring him to readjust fairly frequently. It should also be nice on his joints with the ortho foam stuff.

Granted, Ferguson does have two "real" beds.  But one is in his wire crate and has deflated a considerable amount (it was $15 at Aldie), and the other is upstairs and is a round bed fleece bed that looks like this:

My Grandmother actually gave it to me for my Labradors years ago, as she bought it by mistake for her Westie, not knowing how big it was.  While he does like it, it seems like it's just a size too small for him, and his butt is forever hanging off to the point that I got an old pillow and put it next to it to fit more of him on the bed.  His other other "bed" is again, a bunch of old pillows with my old comforter from college laid on top which is in his favorite crate, but frustrates me because the comforter is crappy and lumpy, so when I need to wash it, it's a pain to lay out again.  Ferguson has always been a good sport and never complained about any of this, but I think he'll be much happier when has a very nice cushy bed that his butt will no longer struggle to fit on.  If he does like the new bed as much as I hope he does, the big question will be where to put it, as we spend a lot of time both downstairs and upstairs.

...yes, I do see the clear plain solution to this problem.  Let's wait and see HOW much he likes it first...