We Think Alike, Our Pets and Us

~ Harlan Didrickson

a-dogsnose-1
I have reason to believe that dogs aren’t aware of their size relative to the rest of the world. From the smallest breed to the largest there’s an obvious contradiction: the smaller breeds are the yappyist as though their bark implies, “C’monr! I’ll take y’all on! Me against 5 of you’s . . .” and their turf protection reminds me of the bully on the block. The larger breeds behave like Conscientious Objectors: demonstrating their reaction to conflict by staging a lay-in or sit-in. But I’ve determined that if you take a dog, remove its fur or hair, its legs, and its torso, a dog, fundamentally, is simply, a nose.

During one of our early autumnal walks, way past midafternoon’s march of the mothers to the elementary school followed by the pupil parade, two waning hours before dusk clocks in, we hit the abandoned sidewalk for Jenni’s thirty minutes of pure dogdom; when she’s not a pet, not part of the family, and not dependent on us. It’s her time to be a dog.

Often during our late afternoon, early autumnal walks we’re victims of late summer breeze’s giving way to staggering gusts which shake the trees like a determined child rattles his piggy bank. Green canopies disperse the shock while weaker, lower limbs lose grip. Cracking like brittle bones, the weakest branches drop like boat anchors, littering the ground with a menagerie of dissimilar limbs. Those few afternoons are beyond compare to play a rousing game of Stick!

IMG_0023

Stick! is a close cousin to fetch with one caveat: When I say Stick! Jenni’s got to find a stick to bring back to me! It’s a marvelous game, especially since I never taught her about sticks. Either Jenni understands English or I’ve picked up a bit of canine vocabulary.

On a particularly gloomy, chilly, and misty afternoon Jenni wished to play Stick! But the pickings were sparse until I located the perfect size stick for Jenni. However, it had threaded itself around three wrought iron spindles of a formidable fence. I bent down to pull the stick free from the fence and it didn’t budge. The harder I pulled the tighter it lodged itself into the fence. I paused for a moment to check on Jenni’s whereabouts, only to see that she had bitten down on the other end of the stick, and matching my determination, pulled even stronger when I successfully gained an inch on my end.

12 thoughts on “We Think Alike, Our Pets and Us”

  1. I love your Jenni stories & I’ve always wanted to meet her. Maybe next time I’m in your city.

    Like

  2. Hey would you mind sharing which blog platform you’re using? I’m looking to start my own blog soon but I’m having a tough time selecting between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your design and style seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something unique. P.S Sorry for getting off-topic but I had to ask!

    Like

  3. Heya! I know this is sort of off-topic however I needed to ask. Does managing a well-established website like yours take a massive amount work? I’m brand new to writing a blog but I do write in my diary every day. I’d like to start a blog so I can easily share my own experience and thoughts online. Please let me know if you have any recommendations or tips for brand new aspiring blog owners. Appreciate it!

    Like

  4. not that much of a online reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your website to come back down the road. All the best

    Like

  6. Hi there! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and tell you I really enjoy reading your posts. Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that go over the same topics? Appreciate it!

    Like

  7. I was wondering if you ever considered changing the layout of your blog? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or 2 images. Maybe you could space it out better?

    Like

  9. Hi! I’ve been following your website for a while now
    and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Humble Tx!
    Just wanted to say keep up the great work!

    Like

  12. Usually I do not learn post on blogs, but I wish to say that this write-up
    very pressured me to check out and do it! Your writing style has
    been amazed me. Thanks, very great article.

    Like

Comments are closed.