It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, . . . – Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

For some odd reason, Charles Dickens’ story came to Hu-dad’s mind as he was standing outside last night with the temperature below freezing, the winds whipping around, and our two patients taking their own approach to bedtime bathroom break. Let’s call this . . . A Tale of Two Siberians.

Cheoah and Natasha enjoying some outdoor time in yesterday’s beautiful fall weather.

In order to allow their damaged knee to heal and, importantly, to allow the healthy knee to stay healthy, Natasha and Cheoah are confined to their crates around the clock except for very short bathroom breaks. And those bathroom breaks are taken on a leash under careful human supervision. Most importantly, they each wear a sling that allows the human to reduce the amount of weight placed on the back end.

Natasha demonstrating the stylish sling.

While assisting each dog on their evening bathroom break, Hu-dad became intimately aware of their bathroom habits.

Natasha, being the no-nonsense dog that she is, sniffs around for the appropriate spot, drops her back end, and viola! Hu-dad simply needs to keep the sling positioned to provide the proper support without interfering. The only issue is that Natasha likes to kick when done, something she really can’t do with a healing leg.

Really? We are discussing my bathroom habits?

Cheoah, on the otherhand, has quite the elaborate ritual. She sniffs, spins, sniffs, spins, sniffs, spins, sniffs, spins, sniffs, spins . . . (ok, you get the idea) . . . until finally she determines that this spot . . . is not appropriate. She moves to another spot, sniffs, spins, sniffs, spins, etc. After several such tests, she finally determines that a spot of ground is appropriately sacred to receive, well, you know. And, at that point, we finally have production.

Let’s go back to that sling. The one with two handles. The one the Hu-dad must keep under control at all times in order to support her weight. Houdini himself would be impressed with the knots that Cheoah can produce unless Hu-dad keeps switching the loops back and forth.

A girl has the right to be picky.

Hu-dad is looking forward to all of the other details he will learn about the two patients over the next several weeks.