Monday, September 6, 2010

The dogs in my life: George & Indi

I am a cat person, mind you, but these days I seem to bounce between two dogs. 

Thirteen yrs old George is a lovely mutt of a terrier with the sweetest temperament. I guess having to live with a cat all his life helped. There has got to be something seriously wrong with you to stir Georgie's dislike. 

Georgie is really low-maintenance and superbly trained by his mother. He gets on with most dogs he runs into on walks (and there are tons of them in his neighborhood), most cats, and even the family of Western scrub jays that calls a bush in his backyard home. Like most dogs, George likes people food more than he does dry dog food, though he will settle for just licking the plate after you're done eating (and he won't sit there staring at you in the effort of guilting you into slipping him a bite in the process).

We go out for 2-4 walks a day when I visit... mostly from 1-5 city blocks. I'd trail behind the little guy and see if he wants to turn the corner or not. When it is hot out he usually turns all the corner and we're back inside the cool house after a block. When it is cooler out, though, old Georgie would keep pointing across the road when we get to an intersection. Sometimes I have to coax him into turning back if the road home contains an uphill climb. He isn't a big dog, but I walk with a cane so it is imperative that he can manage to get all the way back home on his own legs!


George's two favorite pastimes: a leisurely stroll where he can sniff almost whatever he wants and sitting by the screen door and people/dog/cat/bird/raccoon/skunk/whatever-else-that-live-around-here watch...

And this...

...is Indi, my present roommate's dog. We thought she was a Rottweiler, but a DNA lab processed her a while ago and decided that she is a mix of 4 breeds, none of which is a Rottweiler. A complete surprise to me is that one of the breed is the 'Chow Chow'... I dunno, Indi is prone to Rottweiler-worthy bouts of ferociousness when approached by strangers (or when someone not very familiar approaches the house)... And she produces a gallon or more of saliva when out on evening walks.

Come to think of it, Indi is really productive pooch in many different ways. The other day we were walking through a nearby park when she unloaded what seemed like half her body weight's worth of poop right on top of an unsuspecting mushroom, thereby rendering her own very fresh demonstration of the concept of forced-feeding.
Life Mushroom Icon
If you feel bad for the mushroom, though, don't. That's another individual organism on earth that had been spared the horror of death by starvation...

Mind you, if Indi knows and likes you, you really won't find a more affectionate dog! The lass has a mind of her own, but she gets quite attached. She sleeps with her mom on the other side of the house. Gets up early and when I open my door in the morning she's be right there ready to jump her attempts to give me a pooch-approved face wash. One morning I was already up before Indi and her mom were, and was in the kitchen fixing my breakfast when my roommate opened her door and Indi rushed out straight for my side of the house, dove into the open bathroom (bunching up the bathroom carpet in the process), did a u-turn and bounded into my open bedroom before emerging perplexed at where the usual sleepyhead (me) had gone so early in the day. She spotted me soon enough, though, and couldn't quite understand what her mother and me were rolling-on-the-floor-laughing about...

6 comments:

wanderer said...

Nice. Lucky, on both ends of the lead. I couldn't live without one, or two.

bereweber said...

oh my God mister Smorg, what a couple of wonderful canine friends you have!! these guys are adorable!! i am already in love with Georg the quiet older dog, he seems so respectful and nice... and well Indi, you are right, she's totally like Herr Gato, a mind of their own, little willful animals, and that story of Indi looking for you every morning, it's hilarious, so nice that you have such great friends!

take care mister Smorg and hope i can meet you ALL soon!

a warm hug for you and plenty of pets for your furry friends

great movies too!

Drew80 said...

That last one, especially, is a great dog story.

It is very sad to see dogs deteriorate with age. My parents are experiencing this at present, and it is painful.

My mother says that dogs instinctively understand the aging process, and accept it.

I don't know . . .

Your Kasarova post below provides wonderful reading.

Georg said...

Sorry to say, but I prefer cats. They don't bark and go away when I pass by. I am looking forward to live along genetically modified dogs that don't bark but make sounds like ducks. Happy future ahead.

But you made good with this wonderful Mozart music. Thank you.

Georg

Smorg said...

Hiya Wanderer: I can live without them, but life sure is a lot more interesting with them around. :o) Hope all is going alright your way!

Hola Bere: I bet you will hit it off with Georgie indeed. He even likes most cats! :oD

I guess Indi and Herr Gato will find themselves competitive, though. Indi can get pretty onerous sometimes (though usually in too adorable a manner to get mad at for long). I'd be in the middle of a writing stream sometimes when she pops in and tries to stick her head in under my right arm while beating the floor to submission with her tail... which won't quit batting until I quit whatever it is I'm doing and pay all my attention to her. :oP She is really the total opposite of Georgie (who is almost like a cat. He likes to be in the same room you're in, but he usually just sits by the door and thinks his own thoughts. :o)

One of these days our paths must intersect, dear friend! It is sort of preposterous we haven't met in person yet. :oP Ack!

For now, though, I hope you're enjoying this turbulent weather (did you catch any rainbow yet? There was one down here a few days ago!) and having a good start to October. Hugs to you and enthusiastic pettings to los gatos, too!

Hiya Drew: It is sad to see anyone you care about take the turn for the worse indeed. :o( I hope your parents are coping ok knowing that they have been giving their dog
a very good life... much better than the ones you see on tv ads (with Sarah McLachlan crooning in the background). :o)

And that Vesselina Kasarova still has aces up her sleeves, it appears. Just heard from a French friend who went to see her in Berlioz's L'Enfance du Christ in Paris and came back praising her French diction... among other things. :oP Hard work is paying off for that gal... And she isn't one of the young ones anymore. I have endless admiration for folks like that. ;o)

Hallo Georgy: I hear you when it comes to barking dogs, bro. Georgie doesn't bark unless a stranger approaches the house, then he lets out this high pitched yelp that makes me wonder if he is a canine countertenor. :oP

Indi, on the other hand, has a deep and full-voiced bark that makes her sound like a big bad man-eating pit bull or something scarier... And she uses it whenever she sees any dog playing out on the street... And whenever the UPS truck is in the area. :o( I think its engine noise bothers her or something.

I'm really more a cat-person, too, though some of them do sing at night. The last cat that adopted me, Begemot, also had this questionable habit of going to sleep on my face. XoP Having a dog that quacks instead of barks would be interesting indeed! ;oD

Glad you like the music, too. It's Kathleen Battle from her glory days... The lass sure could sing! :o)

Thanks for dropping by, everyone! :o) Best wishes from entrancingly gray Chula Vista,

Smorgy

Anonymous said...

I don't know. If I were the mushroom I might have preferred starvation over being crushed by dog poo! lol