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By Posted on Posted in HomeAndHearth, pets, PhotoImage 13 Comments
A dog's work is never done: Gandy's Workshop

Dogs are pack animals, and they follow the lead of the alpha male. But some dogs are more inclined to lead than to follow, and it takes them many repetitions before the stupid alpha figures out what he’s being told to do. In this case, our pound pup, Gandy, clearly sees how quickly our wood stack is dwindling. The woodstove, flickering and comforting, is a big part of her winter pleasure. Her prompts to get me off my ergonomic office chair are entirely self-serving. …

Gandy’s Workshop Read more »

By Posted on Posted in pets, PhotoImage 12 Comments

She simply walked up to the dinner table Tuesday night and stood there at my feet, waiting, as if to say “Why doesn’t this work anymore?” After a full, normal, active (if not hyperactive) day around the domain, she should have been standing there for a pat on the head. Instead, she showed us her right back leg was injured. No whining, no fretting, just a statement of fact: she couldn’t stand on all four legs. That was the first time we were aware …

Gandy Gone Gimpy Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Health, pets 6 Comments

…and sneeze and gag and wheeze. (No cough, actually, but this is as close as I can come to a name for this situation.) Whatever it is, the dog had it when we picked her up from the vet’s office Saturday. I fault them for not mentioning–maybe not even noticing, especially since my guess is that Gandy is not the only dog in the facility with an infection coming out that they did not have going in. Granted, one risks a “day care” infection, …

Kennel Cough Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Outdoors, pets, PhotoImage, seasons 7 Comments

But first, Gandy had a play date with the cute little bear cub. It was the scenario we dreaded for 15 summers, prepared for–once upon a time–but figured would never really happen in real life as we know it. So no whistle. No walkie-talkie. No bear spray. No Ruger .44 short-barrel brush rifle. Just a skinny she-dog and her skinny human side dish. Ann and dog are as far back in the valley as you can get on our land in the rugged parts …

The Bear Went Over the Mountain Read more »

By Posted on Posted in pets 2 Comments

Our dogs, like us, enjoy the coming of spring, marked by the arrival of the swallowtails. Gandy thinks the first part of the butterfly name implies an imperative verb. Tsuga believed them to have magical properties.   Tsuga–who would have celebrated his 10th birthday in about a month–was not interested at all in the Tiger Swallowtails on a cloudy day. One could fly just in front of his face, and he yawned. But on a sunny day, the chase was on. Except it was not …

Butter Flies Read more »