Room and bored.

Since my return from the hospital last Tuesday, I have been limited in what I can do. I can only walk around for about five minutes before pain begins to grip my leg and I must sit down. I'm not supposed to do any heavy lifting, ought to limit driving, and I must be cautious on ramps and stairs. And so on. I'm seeing two doctors this week, who may be able to help, but meanwhile it's restricted activity for me.

And the dogs are driving us crazy.

My wife has been doing an ace job with them, all the things I usually do plus all the things she usually does. Slowly I've taken some of the easier jobs, like feeding and a late-evening send-out, but we don't have free-range dogs here. No fences, plenty of dog-hating neighbors. They need an overseer, if not an escort.

It usually takes both of us to get them enough activity on an average day, and my wife's at-home job is much more demanding, especially time-wise, than mine. So usually it is I who roughhouses, walks, and generally goofs around with them, and it's just out of the question now. So our bored dogs are spending large chunks of time whining and fussing and causing irritation all around.

Fortunately there are plenty of tips for how to keep a dog occupied, such as this list here, but most of them require things like human activity, which is in short supply at the moment. Or they may recommend one of those treat-containing puzzle toys, which you may recall occupies my big bruisers for approximately two minutes, tops. They also don't play with toys on their own very much, except for Junior Varsity Dog Nipper, and with only one toy -- an old collar of his. He loves to lick and chew it. He thinks he tastes great.

Other options include leaving the front door open with the storm door closed, or as we call it, Dog TV.  And we do that, although it leads more often to random attacks of barkage, which is bad if my wife has a phone meeting. Or we could consider installing an Invisible Fence, or hiring a dog walker to break up the day, but anything that involves a steady or large financial outlay at this time, with hospital bills amassing on the horizon, seems like a poor idea.

We're doing our best to keep things normal, but it's hard. They know something is up, but they can't understand what, or why. You could explain to a small child that Daddy is hurt and is trying to get better, but dogs don't understand. Once again we are let down by the fact that our wonderful pets cannot speak English.