From the dog’s point of view, his master is an elongated and abnormally cunning dog.
Today is warm despite the breeze and sunny with blue skies. I haven’t been able to say that in a long while. Gracie and her dog pal, Cody, are playing in the backyard. Cody lives down the street, and when he is let him out, he runs right here to play. When they’re done and banging on the dog door, I’ll open my front door, and Cody will run right home. Gracie will be panting with her tongue hanging.
I have a list for today and tomorrow to get ready for Tuesday when I’ll be taking the 7:10 bus to Boston. I have to report at 9:30 for surgery at 11:30. Coffee will then be on hiatus until I get home. My pet sitter will move in on Tuesday.
When I was a kid, our dog Duke used to stay at my grandparents’ house if we went away. They were not animal people, especially not Duke people. If they let him out, he’d head back to our house, several blocks away. He just knew where to go. My grandfather would drive up and fetch Duke, and after doing that a few times, he’d end up tying Duke outside. One time Duke was uptown and happened to find my grandmother. Those were the days when dogs roamed all over the place, no leash laws anywhere. Duke followed her from store to store though she tried several times to shoo him away. I guess she didn’t know how stubborn Boxers can be. Duke followed her into Woolworth’s where he lifted his leg on the comic books. The manager demanded payment for the ruined comics. My grandmother told him the truth, “He is not my dog.”
Duke is the reason I always have Boxers. He was a great dog. He always made us feel safe, and he’d growl at anyone walking around outside the house. Once he nearly went through the screen screen door at someone on the sidewalk by my house. Another time he did jump out of the car window while we were stopped at a red light. My father pulled over, jammed on the brakes and took to the chase. Luckily someone saw what has happening and grabbed the fleeing Duke.
Gracie is a brindle just as Duke was and, like Duke, has a tendency to take flight if given the chance. Luckily, Gracie heads down to my friends’ house, and they capture her. She is far less stubborn than Duke was, and other than taking off, she lets me be the alpha dog in the house.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
March 6, 2011 at 12:47 pm
Well, if your Duke was a spitz-type or my Duke was a boxer, we could have had the same childhood dog. Right down to jumping out of the car window. My Duke went through vent window to go after a dog he saw on the Common. My Dad was really surprised that he could fit through that small a space.
My Duke never went off the street unless my father told him to go and find us. When Duke showed up, you knew you had been summoned.
March 6, 2011 at 6:07 pm
Hi Caryn,
My Duke used to follow the kids to the East School, and my Dad used to chase him in the car because Duke chose to ignore him. He’d follow us to school, but when we’d turn around to catch him doing it, he was always sitting down yet the space between us never got any larger.
March 7, 2011 at 5:45 pm
My father had a peke named Leroy. He would let Leroy out in the morning to do his business in the side yard but the neighborhood kids used to like to take Leroy to school with them. They would keep throwing things for him to fetch until they got to the school yard and then they would leave him out there all alone. My father usually met Leroy on his way back home. Eventually, my father figured out that he should not put Leroy out until after the kids had gone to school.
March 6, 2011 at 1:13 pm
We´ve had a wonderful day here today with sunshine and almost no wind. But the temperature barley reached over 32.
My Hector has jumped out the window while I was driving slowly here in the village 🙂 🙂
Orvar does walk down to my neighbors occasionally and visit them. He started to do so when they had horses and he loved them. They could stand and look at each other for hours the horses and he 🙂 Hector almost never goes away anywhere. I´m not sure about Nova yet, but my guess is that she will do like Orvar 🙂
Have a great day now!
Christer.
March 6, 2011 at 6:09 pm
Christer,
Our day did get cloudy and damp feeling in the afternoon, but it was still warm to me. My other Boxes never roamed too far from home, and they were okay off the leash. They’d get a bit ahead of me but stop until I’d caught up. Gracie is a runner. When I get closer to her, she takes off.
March 6, 2011 at 5:02 pm
You are lucky with dogs. We had a Basset Hound that jump the screen door open and tore up a UPS delivery guys leg. He had to have 25 stiches and ended up suing everyone including UPS. I know our attorney got us removed from the lawsuit, somehow, but I tell ya, I would rather have a dog pissing on a comic book than what we went through. Surgery Tuesday? I get my third wash on the port in my chest that morning so hopefully it’s the last and I can get permission to take the thing out. Good Luck! How long is the expected recovery this time?
March 6, 2011 at 6:11 pm
Z&Me,
I don’t know anyone who actually had a dog bite someone. Gracie will lick you to death which is a bit annoying after a bit.
They have no idea of the recovery period. The last one was complicated by that moving whatever in my back so we can’t use that as an idea of the time.
Good luck!
March 6, 2011 at 10:48 pm
Wishing you a speedy recovery.
March 7, 2011 at 12:07 am
Thanks, Pat
I’m crossing my fingers for this one!