Friday, November 06, 2009
Iffen Yer Good at sumpthin'........
Toby came to live with us in October of 2003. He's the puppy you see in my avatar. He's 80lbs of pure love, affection, and loyalty.
I'd never owned a dog before. I'd always owned cats all my life. So this was a new experience for me. We got him from my Son's girl friend. She'd move into living arrangements that didn't accommodate owning a dog. She was kind of desperate to find him a home, and older dogs (He was 10 at the time.) aren't as adoptable as cute puppies. One day my sons, treading lightly, asked if I'd ever consider adopting a dog. This came out of left field. They told me about Toby, and asked if I'd at least considering meeting him. I told them I'd consider it, but reminded them I wasn't much of a "dog person." I'd always considered them kind of dumb, and maintenance intensive. The girlfrend brought him around that weekend. They suggested that perhaps I could take him for a walk and see what I thought. He seemed nice enough, but I was still doubtful. But, eh, "what the hell!" I thought.
When I returned from the walk, they were all sitting on the front steps of the house with looks of doubt, yet hope on their faces. I walked up to the GF and said "You DO realize you're not gonna get him back, right???"
The rest, as they say, is history. He's proven to be a wonderful companion. He always seems to know when I'm in a crappy mood, and has the ability to bring a smile to my face.
That picture in the avatar (Shown larger above.) was taken about ten months after we got him. He's about 16-1/2 now. Really old for a full sized dog. Various calculators put him between 90-95 years, based on his size and breed. (Mixed, black lab and husky) He's doing pretty well, considering. He's just about completely deaf. You really have to holler to get him to hear you, so I've learned to use body language and hand signals to get him to do what I need him to do. If he's excited and distracted by something, the trick is to get his attention first. He's not quite as agile as he used to be. His rear legs aren't quite a strong as they used to be. But he's still basically healthy and alert.
He never was much for playing. He doesn't "fetch" retrieve sticks, play with balls, toys, or anything like that at all. I think he believes that's all "beneath" him. In fact, I think he believes he's a human. He just doesn't have any pockets for his wallet.
Some things he is good at:
Begging for food in the kitchen:
He's pretty good at that alright. He's learned that whenever I'm cooking, he needs to hang around to snap up anything that might fall off of the counter. You've got to be pretty quick to beat him to something that falls. He will eat anything. I mean that. Meat, of course. But also vegetables, including lettuce, carrots, and even onions. And bread. He LOVES bread. He will do ANYTHING for bread. Get a piece of bread out, and he's yours. You own him. It is the one time he will consent to do "tricks." Once you're out of bread, it's over. Since he's good at eating, it would follow he's good at.....
Shitting:
I'll spare your the pictures of that. You get the gist. And, especially lately..........
Napping:
He's been getting better at this the last couple of years. Notice the carefully arranged papers he's laying on. We didn't do that for him. His usual habit is the shuffle around in a circle several times, before flopping down and arranging himself to his liking. After a minute or so, this all is followed up with a contented sigh. We feed him Iams "Active Maturity." I checked to see if they offered "Inert Old Fart." No luck.
We are alone, absolutely alone on this chance planet: and, amid all the forms of life that surround us, not one, excepting the dog, has made an alliance with us.
Maurice_Maeterlinck
I'd never owned a dog before. I'd always owned cats all my life. So this was a new experience for me. We got him from my Son's girl friend. She'd move into living arrangements that didn't accommodate owning a dog. She was kind of desperate to find him a home, and older dogs (He was 10 at the time.) aren't as adoptable as cute puppies. One day my sons, treading lightly, asked if I'd ever consider adopting a dog. This came out of left field. They told me about Toby, and asked if I'd at least considering meeting him. I told them I'd consider it, but reminded them I wasn't much of a "dog person." I'd always considered them kind of dumb, and maintenance intensive. The girlfrend brought him around that weekend. They suggested that perhaps I could take him for a walk and see what I thought. He seemed nice enough, but I was still doubtful. But, eh, "what the hell!" I thought.
When I returned from the walk, they were all sitting on the front steps of the house with looks of doubt, yet hope on their faces. I walked up to the GF and said "You DO realize you're not gonna get him back, right???"
The rest, as they say, is history. He's proven to be a wonderful companion. He always seems to know when I'm in a crappy mood, and has the ability to bring a smile to my face.
That picture in the avatar (Shown larger above.) was taken about ten months after we got him. He's about 16-1/2 now. Really old for a full sized dog. Various calculators put him between 90-95 years, based on his size and breed. (Mixed, black lab and husky) He's doing pretty well, considering. He's just about completely deaf. You really have to holler to get him to hear you, so I've learned to use body language and hand signals to get him to do what I need him to do. If he's excited and distracted by something, the trick is to get his attention first. He's not quite as agile as he used to be. His rear legs aren't quite a strong as they used to be. But he's still basically healthy and alert.
He never was much for playing. He doesn't "fetch" retrieve sticks, play with balls, toys, or anything like that at all. I think he believes that's all "beneath" him. In fact, I think he believes he's a human. He just doesn't have any pockets for his wallet.
Some things he is good at:
Begging for food in the kitchen:
He's pretty good at that alright. He's learned that whenever I'm cooking, he needs to hang around to snap up anything that might fall off of the counter. You've got to be pretty quick to beat him to something that falls. He will eat anything. I mean that. Meat, of course. But also vegetables, including lettuce, carrots, and even onions. And bread. He LOVES bread. He will do ANYTHING for bread. Get a piece of bread out, and he's yours. You own him. It is the one time he will consent to do "tricks." Once you're out of bread, it's over. Since he's good at eating, it would follow he's good at.....
Shitting:
I'll spare your the pictures of that. You get the gist. And, especially lately..........
Napping:
He's been getting better at this the last couple of years. Notice the carefully arranged papers he's laying on. We didn't do that for him. His usual habit is the shuffle around in a circle several times, before flopping down and arranging himself to his liking. After a minute or so, this all is followed up with a contented sigh. We feed him Iams "Active Maturity." I checked to see if they offered "Inert Old Fart." No luck.We are alone, absolutely alone on this chance planet: and, amid all the forms of life that surround us, not one, excepting the dog, has made an alliance with us.
Maurice_Maeterlinck
