AJC > Sandy Springs > Blog > Archives > 2005 > October > 03 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USDog daze raises cosmic questions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My wife Carol, who is very wise when it comes to the universe, says there are no coincidences, that everything happens for a reason. Everything.
Which is why I’m bumfuzzled over an event that took place last week. But to tell that story, I have to tell this story.
When I was growing up, cats and dogs had free run of our neighborhood. The cats lolled in the sun and chased birds. The dogs chased cars and left surprises in the tall grass.
In my house we were cat people. My mother wasn’t wild about animals and cats were deemed to be the lesser of two evils.
So 10 years ago when I bought my house at the age of 37, I had the backyard fenced and my son Zach and I went to the animal shelter to rescue a dog. I wasn’t sure what I wanted. Perhaps a regal-looking Golden, the kind that would lay by my feet in the evening while I wore a satin smoking jacket and read Dickens or Thoreau by a roaring fire. A handsome animal that would look good as I walked, thoughtfully puffing on a pipe, in the early chill of autumn. I should have told me son what was on my agenda before he found Jake.
Jake is a dog of dubious parentage. He was listed as a Basset-Shepherd mix, but since then we’ve had another half-dozen breeds suggested. Suffice it to say, at the end of the day in the celestial dog factory they took all the leftover parts and the result was Jake. He is short and stumpy. His history reads like a rap sheet and the furry little thug would later require a week at doggy boot camp before he was officially part of the family.
Two months after Jake was adopted, Carol became my fiance, and three months later Jake was joined by her dog Molly when we (Carol and I, for those trying to keep track) got married. Molly is a black Lab mix, and like Jake, she will never be considered a candidate for Mensa. We don’t refer to them as the dogs, we call them “the morons.â€?
Now begins our other story. Three weeks ago, Carol and I found ourselves hooked into one of those pet adoption events they hold at shopping malls. They do this because they know that people like me have a hard time walking past sad-eyed dogs.
The dog we were interested in was not interested in us and it should have ended there until we met Sydney, an Australian Shepherd mix. Unlike the morons, this was a very sweet animal with a past that read like a Dickens novel. How could we pass this up?
We walked down the mall and sat and thought about it. A third dog. A third set of shots. A third dog that would need boarding when we travel. More dog food. More dog maintenance. It made absolutely no sense. But good sense doesn’t stand a chance against a pair of big brown doggy eyes, and two days later Sydney came to live with us.
It’s been an adjustment. The morons have been together for seven years and they are set in their ways (read: they take nine naps between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.). Sydney has all the energy of a young dog and neither side is sure what’s going on. Which may be why Molly snapped at Sydney and took a pretty good hunk out of her nose. And that brought us to the vet Tuesday last, which is where I’m having trouble reading the cosmic tea leaves.
The building that houses the after-hours veterinary practice is the same that housed my first pediatrician when we moved to Sandy Springs. The examination room I had Sydney in was the same I used to sit in with a fever, cough, runny nose, etc.
Coincidence? Not according to my wife. The meaning? She doesn’t have an answer to that one, at least not one that doesn’t impugn my spotless character.
What is the circle of life that brings a man back to his medical roots 43 years later, only to find the space is now for those using four feet? When did curing acne give way to stopping fleas and ticks? When did “turn your head and cough” get replaced by a discussion on the merits of getting neutered?
Questions, I have. Answers, I need.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By JACKIE
October 3, 2005 09:52 AM | Link to this
LOVE THIS MAN.
By pete
October 3, 2005 11:58 AM | Link to this
Well, Jim, it may take a while for the ‘morons’ to accept the fact there’s a new kid who isn’t leaving. I live WAAY out in the country, and the current ‘pupulation’ is at six. Ages range from 16 years to one year, and they all get along. Like siblings, they are better off the closer in years. Treat all with the same affection, make ‘treat’ time a ‘pack’ experience, since you and your very wise wife are the ‘pack leaders’,lead and they will follow. Bless you for adopting. You can always get Sydney a puppy to pplay with!
By Maria Wildman
October 3, 2005 12:08 PM | Link to this
I loved your story. I have a 4 yr. old Choc. Lab that I was so lucky to find at my local shelter. She’s my “pet soul-mate”.
i think life comes full-circle, and to love an animal shows you love yourself.
By momfor2
October 3, 2005 01:02 PM | Link to this
Hmmn… Very amusing! I love pet stories.
We also have a “Heinz 57” dog, who we “rescued” from the Atlanta Humane Society 4 years ago Christmas. I use the term “rescued” loosely, because sometimes I feel like living with us is actually some sort of punishment for this poor animal and that, in fact, he still needs to be rescued.
He’s actually quite adorable though, he’s a chow-something-something and something else mix and he has the most beautiful light hazel eyes. We love him a lot, but we have an 11-year-old daughter (who was just 7 when we got him) who literally loves him to death! Point: not long ago, she gave him an Altoid (what dog would even eat an Altoid??!!) which made him “sick as a dog.” Sorry — I couldn’t resist the cliche. And once, when playing doctor, she put Neosporin and a bandage on his private parts because she said she thought he’d hurt himself when trying to climb over the fence (read: escape). Anyway, we couldn’t figure out what he was doing when we later noticed him furiously trying to un-bandage himself. We thank God he’s good with kids — because surely getting your privates bandaged would be a biting offense if ever there was one.
Unlike your dogs, though, I think that in our case, our dog is the one who thinks of US as morons! :-)
By Don Jordan
October 3, 2005 02:44 PM | Link to this
Well, I happen to know several not-so-bright dogs as well, but Jake and Molly do not deserve the “moron dogs” distinction. I can say this because I know those two personally. Like many dogs who have selective hearing, Jake and Molly prefer to exhibit “selective intelligence.” Jake has confided in me on numerous occasions that it is better to be underestimated mentally. He says it lowers the canine performance bar tremendously, allowing more time for snoozing and gaining more leeway with the less-than-musical canine conversations that are required when anyone (including Jim or Carol) pull into the driveway.
If this type of mental manipulation by Jake and Molly gets them branded as “dumber than a bag of hammers”, then so be it. I doubt they are losing too much sleep over it. I’ll give them another week and they will have Sydney playing the highly effective “moron” ruse, too.
By Jim Osterman
October 3, 2005 03:17 PM | Link to this
Anne:
We were neighbors back in the day. How are your girls?
By shari
October 3, 2005 10:10 PM | Link to this
As we age and our children move away we need to focus our attentions to something else - thus we have dogs. they love us and never ask for the car keys or rent money. You just have to love them. PS - as they say, “What’s one more?”
By Zach Osterman
October 3, 2005 11:41 PM | Link to this
I say that I mujst agree with that Jordan fellow. Jake, in particular, seems quite a dapper little spart. Consider his plight: he lays around, doing nothing of any reall value to the world for days on end, and for his trouble receives food, bedding, and more love and attention than most of us will get in a lifetime. Molly and Sydney too. To look at it from a certain point of view, these and other common household pets not only seem smarter than us bipeds, they seem to have uncovered a veritable fountain of riches: do nothing and get all you need. Take it from someone who has learned a few things the hard way, we should all be so lucky. Hmmmph.
By gttim
October 4, 2005 08:21 AM | Link to this
When asked about my type of dog my little one is, which happens almost daily, I just refer to her as a “love child.”
By Susan Bentzen-Gordet
October 4, 2005 10:36 AM | Link to this
Bless you for Adopting your dogs!
Our 2 dogs are rescues & we say they are “practice for having kids”!
Consider the Training, Discipline, Responsibility & Love involved in having dogs before going to an even more intense level with children.
Our female, Ruby, is smart & shows us that she can’t be fooled easily.
Our male, Tigger, pretends to not be smart & readily gives us his happy face & smiles at us to say “Who? Me?” But, he is connivingly smart & waits until he thinks that nobody is looking to make his move!
By Marcia Dearborn
October 4, 2005 03:32 PM | Link to this
Elvis & Priscilla (rescued Goldens) are now brother & sister to a pit bull from the street who looks like Leslie Caron—I swear to God! We call her Sammi-Toes & she has turned the house upside down, chewed the woodwork & ears of the other dogs & redecorated the carpet. But, she tries harder than any dog I’ver ever met. So hang in there, you won’t be sorry. Woof
By Debbie
October 4, 2005 03:51 PM | Link to this
Aren’t Dogs just the best!! We have a 140 lb Rottweiller/Bull Mastiff mix. He ate 250 Ibuprofen when he was 6 months old and is a little slow mentally now. He thinks he is a lap dog. We also have a totally deaf 80 lb American Bulldog. She is amazing and doesn’t think she misses a thing. They both sleep in the bed with my Husband and I when we can find a little room for ourselves. It’s funny how we will sleep in the most uncomfortable tiny space instead of moving one of the dogs. I wouldn’t take anything for either of them. You are lucky to have each and every one!!
By dennis
October 5, 2005 08:22 AM | Link to this
What a stupid story.
By Joel Armistead
October 5, 2005 09:53 AM | Link to this
We also have a dog named Jake. He has a large head, large tail, long body with Bassett feet , knees and short legs. He is a pound dog. I wonder if the two Jake’s are siblings?
By Lyza
October 5, 2005 11:42 AM | Link to this
…I laughed to the point of tears as I read everyone’s blog. Yes, Debbie, they are the best but so are cats.
My husband and I love cats and are away from home too much to own a dog. We never planned on having more than 3 but, as the old saying goes, God laughs while we make plans, so we have 9.
It began with the melding of three when we married, then we lost two within a year of each other and Junior, then about 19, was left until 4-mo. old Cassanova walked up to our door step along with one of my husband’s violin students. When he wouldn’t leave, “Nova” joined the household and began terrorizing Junior. We rescued Gryffendor (my husband’s Harry Potter period) shortly thereafter to give Nova a playmate and a respite for Junior. All was ducky until a year later when my husband heard kittens mewing from inside a Costco dumpster. Notwithstanding untried skills at dumpster diving, he managed to get himself inside and brought home 4-week old Copper and Puma. Now we were five. One would have thought sanity would prevail, but no. Not us.
Another year passed and another client mentioned to Hubby that the four kittens born to a ferral mother under his porch were becoming annoyingly loud and that he was going to drown them the next day. Enter Chipper, Bristol, Possum and Punky. We originally intended to keep only two of the last four and adopt two out, but that didn’t happen, and remember this, one should never name an animal that you want to give away. Kind of like naming your food. You can’t eat it, and in our case, can’t give it up.
We had to turn our guest room into a Cat Condo, complete with high stacked beds, multiple litter boxes, water fountains, hanging toys, arial walkways, etc. so that we could sleep. It also means daily litter box cleaning, vacuming, washing of bowls, and time spent making ourselves dizzy as we spin in circles holding long poles that have strings and feathers attached.
Their personalities are all unique but Punky is our Challenged Child. As the runt, he arrived with damaged motor skills and an inability to eat. My husband sat with him every meal for the first two weeks hand feeding him because even though he knew how to open and close his mouth, he couldn’t figure out how to get the food in. Punky is alive today because of Hubby’s effort and, although still approximately three bricks short of a load, is the sweetest of the bunch.
Would I change anything? Nope. Well, maybe Junior’s penchant for throwing up. Our next house will have hardwood floors, or at the very least, Pergo laminate.
By carole
October 5, 2005 11:55 AM | Link to this
My husband and I adopted a new dog a month ago from Atlanta Pet Rescue. He is a small dog, he looks part scotty and part jack russel. When we were bringing him home he was sitting on my lap and looked a bit green so I put his head out the window. He promptly lost his lunch which caught the wind and landed on my face. My husband was glad that it didn’t get on his leather interior. We have two low maintenance animals in our house, Simon Hernandez the 12 year old am bulldog mix (looks like petey on little rascals) and an Alex kitty. Alex and Simon grew up together, and consider themselves brother and sister. I came home on the third day of Kelsey’s homecoming and find Simon with a nasty scratch on his nose and a small bite on his leg that bled profusely all over my hardwood floors. The cat was not to be found. Several hours later, I found Alex curled up in a tiny ball on the counter of the kitchen. I couldn’t coax her out of that corner for a day. Since then I have seen other altercations between Kelsey and Alex; he is excited to meet her and she is used to slow, dimwitted Simon who is never excited about anything. I truly believe Kelsey means no harm, but just the same it freaks the cat out. Every time this happens, brother Simon gets between this new dog and his sister to protect her. This explains the scratch on the nose (Alex jumping over Simon to get to the counter) and the bite (Kelsey’s disdain over not getting to meet the cat. I can see now that this is going to be a long process and a lot of maintanance. Also, he is definatly not housetrained. When we got Kelsey he did not like to be held or petted. He is now my new lovebug and even kisses. This dog was food deprived, probably all his short little life (we think he is one). He eats cockroaches, hickory nuts, and anything else he can get his little devil dog mouth on. All of this hard work so far has been well worth it as he has sneaked his way into our hearts. He has breathed new life into Simon who was never remotly interested in fetching, but gave it a good college try when he saw Kelsey doing it. A kitty door has been installed to the basement along with litter box and food, so Alex has a safe haven. Since we got Kelsey, my husbands car was totaled and our new doggie christened it with a fresh batch of car sickness when we took him camping. HOORAY!
By Megan
October 5, 2005 02:58 PM | Link to this
Today’s message on my “Daily Thoughts and Inspirations About Dogs” calendar: Do not make the mistake of treating your dogs like human beings or they will treat you like dogs. Ah, if only I had know that when we first adopted Murphy five years ago! And oh, if only I had learned my lesson when we let Pierce into our home six months ago. But dogs, even the “morons”, are smart. They are trained, from pups, in the ways of manipulating humans…the big puppy dog eyes that say “I love you” and “Give me treats” all at the same time; rolling on their backs in submission when you know they are secretly thinking “sucker”; and the “I didn’t do it look” despite undeniable evidence to the contrary. But worst of all, we know they manipulate us but love them all the more for their creativity and resourcefullness, even when it costs us our $200 sunglasses, favorite books and freshly cleaned carpet. You just gotta love em though!
By A young optimist
October 5, 2005 03:01 PM | Link to this
First off, Kudos on rescuing an animal. And second, great choice in getting an Aussie (or rather an aussie mix). We also have aussies and they really are the best dogs. After a lifetime of goldens and labs, the aussie is a breath of fresh air. Not only are they smart but they are incredibly loyal and always up for fun. Just make sure that sydney gets adequate activity. Aussies are full of energy and very smart but they need to be given a job. Otherwise, they will use their energy and intelligence for EVIL. Trust me. Good l
By A young optimist
October 5, 2005 03:04 PM | Link to this
I must say that a rescue story always makes me smile.
By Theri T
October 5, 2005 03:27 PM | Link to this
Not so long ago, my 12 yr old son, stated on the regular basis that HE wanted a brother or sister. Not wanting to dissapoint him; I made the decision to get a dog. I wanted something cute…maybe a poodle or that expensive “yorkie”. After alot of soul searching, I made the effort to really start looking to make this dog purchase happen. A co-worker of mine, at that time was engaged to a manager at Petsmart. She insisted that the Saturday, pet adoption clinic was the way to go. Still not fully convinced, I continued to slowly search the papers and web for a yorkie. So along at Petsmart comes the opportunity for a Boston Terrier. They were cute—-but I didn’t know how big they would get. As the decision came to adopt one; a staff member kept the puppy. A year later, I have my “daughter” Egypt and my son has his sister. E (for short), is so human-like, it’s scary. She at now 6 months has learned over 14 commands/phrases by my training, poses for the camera, knows how to smile AND she even has her own growing wardrobe!! Spoiled as all outdoors, I wouldn’t trade her for anything!! Since adopting her….Petsmart still has not received any additional Boston’s. I guess it was all in God’s Plan…. Bless those whom adopt/rescue animals. Love them for life, because they are FAMILY.
By J.T.
October 6, 2005 09:28 AM | Link to this
Having a dog is a blessing and a curse. I was raised with a devoted pure bred boxer, but the garbage man decided to run over her four times (one right after the other), my parents decided to enjoy the freedom from pet parenting. I didn’t really get my next dog until four years ago. I was living alone and doing quite well, albeit a bit lonely. I was working for a company that didn’t require travel as my previous job. I knew I could now manage and “parent” a dog. So, I went to the pound and picked out my new charge: a recently turned in pure bred rat terrier. Eddie (he was already named) looked quite pathetic - scared to death and quiet (I liked quiet). He also looked like he was quite docile (little did I know he was doped up from just that day having been “fixed”). His big sad eyes and scared look won me over. I took him home right away. I bought a crate and all the appropriate doggie things to help him feel at home. Eddie remained quiet and this made me wonder if he was mute or maybe his previous owner had been cruel and had his vocal cords cut. I took Eddie to the vet and found that his stitches from being fixed were the wrong gauge thread and his incision was infected - along with his having some infected sores on his haunches. He gave me medicine and within a few days Eddie was feeling his own: this was no mute dog! This was no tame, docile dog. I knew he was on the mend when he started tearing through the house and barking at anything that moved and “talking” to me all the time (rat terriers are known to be very talkative). I had Eddie to myself for two weeks and in that time crate trained him and mostly got him housebroken. Then immediately my company decided that I needed to start traveling - not just any traveling - but traveling where I would be gone for two plus weeks at a time. WOW! This was going to be expensive and cruel to this little dog whom I’d grown so instantly fond of. My parents took him in for the first two weeks and Eddie ate a victorian setee owned by my great great grandmother and ate the window sills in my parent’s sun room. They were neither amused nor up for the challenges that such an active little dog can offer. Fortunately, my best friend started taking Eddie for me and this was good because I was now being forced to travel for months at a time without returning home. When I did get home, Eddie no longer recognized me as his master. My best friend was. I left that company and for the last year, I’ve been constantly at home and parenting Eddie. He is my constant companion. It’s gotten so bad that I see events for kids going on in my neighborhood and I think, “I’ll bet Eddie would like that! I’ll bring him.” It’s only after this instantaneous thought that I remember Eddie is a dog and couldn’t care less. He just wants to run around with his doggie friends and sniff a few bushes and run from pillar to post rarely lighting in any one place for very long. But at night, Eddie is right by my side resting his head on my arm or my leg. I sometimes wonder how I went so long without a four legged companion. I cannot imagine it any longer…
By Skip
October 7, 2005 08:11 AM | Link to this
Thanks for saving three dogs. I have two dogs and they take my mind places its never been. In a crazy way the more time you spend with them, you become more like Jimmy Stewart and Harvey. There are always more questions than answers. Most dogs have the answers, you just have to listen to them, even those that have you thinking they are morons.
By NH
October 7, 2005 04:01 PM | Link to this
I am so proud to know there are other animal crazy people in this world. I have 5 dogs, 4 of which are rescues. Two are lab mixes and the other three are Jack Russell Terriers. I could not imagine life without them. In fact, we bought a house this July and already have it up for sale because the two cranky, rude men on either side of us harass us on a daily basis about our dogs. They are both animal haters and we are in fear that they will harm our animals when we are not there. I wish there were more animal loving people in this world!
By Harriette
October 7, 2005 08:07 PM | Link to this
We live with 4 dogs and 16 cats….they all live outside w/only a few special “visits”. I agree with your wife, everything does happen for a reason…..but, um, the reason isn’t always in clarvoyant moments.
This may not be an answer to any of your questions, but it should make you feel better that your Noah’s ark has a lesser populace ~ Cheers! Harriette South of the Gnat Line