Abby finally got her chance to kill barney. It took us a week to get him fully lulled into a false sense of security. There was the spa day, the trip to the zoo, and then Abby and I took him to her favorite spot - Fiesta Island. I confess I was worried about taking him there, lest some OTHER dog grab him and run off and get the joy of killing him (tragedy!) but it was a fairly quiet day there and I mostly kept him hidden in my backpack (which he didn't seem to mind, but remember - he's a total moron.)
He played lifeguard
First, he enjoyed the view
Personally, I think Abby makes a cuter lifeguard, but Barney wanted to give it a go. (He said he wanted to pretend he was David Hasselhoff in Bay Watch. He made us call him "The Hoff" the rest of the day. Moron.)
Then the time finally came to sit Barney down and clue him in:
Admittedly, she was a little slow to get into it. But after a few more nibbles on him, she really started to develop a taste for him. She chewed:
His nose...
His side
The spots on his back
His hand
His hiney (she's actually chewing his tag off here...)
His tail
His stinky feet
She got so into chewing him that I decided to video a bit more:
And then it was time to save Barney so that some other Tripawd could try to kill him.
"I'm not done with that!"
"Hey, where you going with that thing??"
I documented his wounds.
Small hole in left butt cheek
Big hole in mouth, small hole in left big toe
I now have to sew him up good and get him looking presentable to go off to the next Tripawd home. Abby is very sad to see him go... but we ordered her her very own used Barney from Amazon yesterday. She can't wait for it to get here so she can kill it!
Thought I would take a short break from the actual events of this stop on the Kill Barney Tour(KBT) to 'splain a little bit more about Barney and what the KBT is all about. I explained it a bit a while ago, but folks may have missed that, and also I didn't explain what I think Barney means to the Tripawds community.
The very same Barney that we are now hosting once belonged to Jerry, who is now known on the Tripawds site as Spirit Jerry since he's no longer with us in the flesh. Jerry was the Original Tripawd--the dog that inspired his pawrents to start the Tripawds site. Jerry has been gone since 2008, but his spirit lives on in the Tripawds community, which has been a really amazing place to go for support and answers during all of this. Everyone on there is very nice and very helpful - and some of them are damn funny.
Which brings us back to the KBT. If I'm counting stops correctly on the KBT map, we are the 25th house to host Barney. Barney travels with a journal and everyone who has hosted him writes about their tripawd pooch and a little bit about Barney's visit. Here is what one woman wrote, which I think sums up nicely why we are all spending time doing silly things with a stinky purple dinosaur:
"I cannot begin to express my gratitude over this Barney. I believe he carries strength from all the tripawd and quad-pawds he's visited. He has been a great source of comfort to us during his visit."
Here's what I'm planning to write in his journal:
"It’s been an honor to host Barney. The Tripawds family has been so great and supportive and it’s nice to have something tangible we can all share that brings a good laugh along with it. Barney is a great symbol for sharing our strengths, our hopes and even a laugh in the face of tough times."
So hopefully that explains why a grown woman is playing with a stuffed dino. It's nice to bring a little silliness to the sucky roller coaster ride that is canine osteosarcoma. I mean, really, how can you not look at something like this and at least crack a smile?
In other news (many of you will already know this from Facebook)... remember this drawing I did of Abby?
Well, the Tripawds folks are putting it on T-shirts and gifts and such, and you can customize the items with your own caption. I ordered a bunch of stuff today, most of it with the caption: Tri to relax. Can't wait to get it!
