Oh, Velcro

Lest you think that my children are the only spoiled ones in the house, fear not.

Velcro was the original child and was spoiled the worst of all. He is the only child with a completed scrapbook. While he has been demoted, he still gets his moments in the spotlight. He is getting to be an older dog. And now I must make special accommodations for him.

Four of the five of us are loving the completed "blessed" stairs. Velcro does not love them. Stairs in general are fine. Construction stairs were fine too. But these new treads with the slick finish are too much.

He has short legs. He is eleven. He has long toenails. The vet a few years ago was going to trim them up when he was out for a surgery. We didn't do the surgery so the nails are still too long. It would be too painful to trim them since the quicks have grown out too. I have to trim them every week they grow so fast. Add to that the hair on his paws and he can't get the traction he needs to get up those slippery stairs. I trim the hair on the bottoms of his feet too.

Every night about twenty minutes after I go up to bed he would follow. Or at least try to. Sometimes he could do it, other times he would get stuck. About half way up. Then I would have to get out of bed and go down and rescue him. He would grumble at the indignity of it all, as I scooped up all forty pounds of him and deposited him on the carpeted landing. He would hop up the stairs, as only Corgi's do, and go to bed. I found that I was laying awake waiting to make sure that he made it up. Neither of us enjoyed this nightly meeting.

So I had to come up with a solution. One that did not include recarpeting the stairs. And one lightbulb moment later I did.

I bought a bath mat. I cut it into six pieces. Every night before I go to bed, I lay out the bath mat on the stairs. Every morning, I pick them up. Doggy carpeting. Velcro has no problems going up the stairs at night. And he no longer sounds and looks like he is going to splat at the bottom going down.



I need to schedule another day of beauty for him too. The groomer has offered a discount if we come more often. Velcro produces more hair than any other dog they groom. Plus he smells so good when he comes home. Spoiled pooch. Best doggy ever, he deserves it.