two bad dogs

two bad dogs
Originally uploaded by A Little More Lime.

Well, I've been prompted, you might say, to give more information about these two bad dogs. I've also been asked to provide more recent pictures of Soryu, and those are coming, along with an update about his progress. So stay tuned. First, the dogs.

My family has always had dogs, for those of you who don't know. We had an Irish setter named Grover when I was wee and we still lived in Phoenix. We had a collie for a while whose name I don't remember. We had two dogs when I was in elementary school--Samson, a yellow lab, and Spunky, a somewhat ill-tempered mutt. Once we moved to Reserve, NM, we got Wonderdog, a mutt who was lost or abandoned or something. She was black and the best dog I've ever had or known. A little later we came into a really big (even for her breed) and good-natured yellow lab named Bo. The Wonder-and-Bo years are full of good memories; the Wonder-and-Bo years are legendary.

When we were living in Montana, Wonderdog succumbed to cancer. After a while, my parents were feeling ready to have a new companion for Bo, and along came Tess, the little white and brown dog in the photo. Tess is Australian shepherd and springer spaniel mix. Craig (my ex-husband)and I got her as a puppy as a gift for his parents, but they didn't want her, so we gave her to my parents. They didn't especially want her either, I guess, because Richard hates springer spaniels. But she was a really cuddly puppy, and my mom's a sucker, so they kept her.

Tess was, as I said, just a puppy and wont to harass Bo. Fortunately Bo didn't get angry much, even though Tess would sort of run along under Bo and jump up and try to hang by her teeth from Bo's jowels. Tess had a real penchant for chewing, as most puppies do, and chewed up everything she could, including the hot tub cover and the sprinkler system.

Eventually, sweet Bo also died. And in due time, my parents replaced Bo with a black lab puppy, so black they named her Shadow. Shadow, at about 2 years old, is still very much a puppy and chews on everything and frisks about constantly.

Tess is neurotic. Tess feels it is her duty to keep an eye on everything. She patrols the perimeter of my parents' lot. She corrals--or attempts to corral--the llamas (my parents have three llamas), and when the llamas are fighting, which is often, she goes crazy trying to break it up. If any of us are outside, Tess will stick right there with us except for periodically reconnoitering the lot and llama enclosure. If some of us are outside, but in different areas, Tess will run back and forth keeping an eye on each of us. Tess doesn't like strangers much and doesn't care for children. She's far too grown up to play with children. There are only two times she really relaxes: when we take her for a hike, thus relieving her of her many duties, and when she is getting much petting on the sofa. Otherwise, she has the weight of the world, seemingly, on her shoulders.

Tess also has a pink nose that gets sunburnt all the time in the strong New Mexico sun, and it looks like she is getting skin cancer there. She also has blue eyes flecked with brown spots. She's a good dog, actually, just a little tense.

Shadow could not be less like Tess. Shadow loves people of all ages and levels of acquaintance. Shadow is afraid of the llamas, although she tries not to show it around Tess. Shadow carries no weight on her shoulders and needs no prompting at all to relax. Shadow generally does not patrol or reconnoiter, unless she is being pressured by Tess. Shadow eats and naps. Granted, when Tess is trying to break up the llama fights, Shadow sometimes goes out there with Tess and puts on a reasonably good show like she cares--she runs around following Tess and barks a lot. But should the llamas actually turn her way, she's out of there lickety-split, while Tess doesn't seem to care if she gets trampled, and is anyway probably too fast to get trampled.

Tess is wiry and spry. Shadow is slightly pudgy and sort of "jounces along awkwardly".

They are both, actually, very fun dogs. But they get the "bad dog" label primarily because they still chew stuff up religiously. Both of them. Recently, they got under Richard's truck and chewed up some wires--enough wires that his truck would no longer run. And this is a new truck. They also don't mind at all, unless a treat is obviously forthcoming. But they have to see it in your hand.

Soryu is gradually getting used to the dogs, and they to him. Shadow licks him all up and down, and he doesn't seem to mind it. Tess just sort of sniffs at him and then runs off to her other chores. He needs to get considerably bigger before he can really play with them, especially since Shadow plays a little rough. And Tess doesn't really play, except in this eccentric manner that's not really much fun for very long. It's hard to explain. But at least Tess will be there to set a good example of maturity for Soryu. I'm sure he's going to need it.