Left all the dogs at home last night to see the Residents. You know them. Well, actually you don't. No one does. They used to wear giant eyeballs over their heads to perform, now it's just nylons and bunny ears and big eyelights. And sparkle tuxedos. Their identities are top secret. They're sort of electronic music meets weird performance art production with sets that look like someone's third grade class built and goes crazy with the light show. This performance, the Bunny Boy. Starts out about a creepy and insane redneck who lives in a shed and uses Youtube to find his brother and ends up being about the demise of culture through the apocolypse after the peak of technological advances.
Maybe you had to be there.
With me and a whole bunch of graying and balding guys in black t-shirts stretched tight over guts. And tattooed girls in bunny ears. During the break, we were out in the lobby talking to someone and a girl in a black satin dress, oddly hiked up on one side, came over to us, stared at Gary and whispered, "Are you laughing at me?" We all just stared at her, and she leaned back against the wall, and asked again. "Are you laughing at me?" Then slunk off, staring at us over her shoulder, wild look in her eye.
Came home to an email from a retired couple with a 14 year old jack russell who want a small female dog to hang out and watch tv with them and live in their luxurious house with a genuine yard and a doggy door. They want a dog just like Black Beauty. I told Gary about them and he just stares at me and shakes his head. Then he shuffles off, stares at me over his shoulder, and shakes his head. Got that LOOK in his eye.
I'm not laughing at anyone here. I didn't MEAN to like this dog. Shrimpy little feral chihauhua from the pen up by the trailer. So now what do I do?
Did you ever dream that you were a dog agility super champ except then it switched and you were at some germy, grungy, derelict seaside park in the dark and the carnies were actually drug addled zombies that were shambling after you with hammers and their big teeth? And then as you're trying to escape your way out from under their oily, horrible claws by clambering up a rat infested palm tree, you're all, this is about dog agility like, how?
13 comments:
I don't envy you your decision between keeping BB and letting her go.
Prolly don't need to remind you about that BC you thought you wanted....
This is what you do. Make a home visit to the couple, with Black Beauty. You will know what to do, then.
I think you need a BC puppy. Not a rescue. Not an adult dog with issues. You have earned *selecting* a litter of BC puppies, and picking out the one that likes to sit on your lap, like Black Beauty. Dogs that sit on your lap can still grow up to be very fast.
Black Beauty came to you to create Gary's support in the BC puppy step.
a BC is not the end-all agility experience. your heart lies with the small black dog team. follow your heart.
And it's not like I wanted a border collie like, tomorow. I love Hobbes! Although I don't get to see him that much. Our house can't hold a border collie, and Gustavo is basically still a puppy, he needs all my training energy for now. No puppies in my future for a while. So that's a ways off. Black Beauty is here now. Maybe sort of cool, having a dog again like a Timmy, that is just a dog. Doesn't have to have a job.
I do think about, would I want a BC puppy from a litter, or a rescue? I think I would still go with the rescue, although find one without gnarly issues, ended up in rescue just for being wild or weird or obsessive but not aggressive. Always a crapshoot though. There are so many great breeders around, I know a lot of BC's I really like and where they come from, but I think rescuing dogs is just too near and dear to my heart. I like the roll of the dice you get with rescued dogs, and also knowing helped one dog out of so many that ended up homeless.
I think that's why it's hard to know there's someone out there, wants a dog, one less dog homeless if I fill their home with BB. And really. What's having 5 dogs if the right BC came along? Uh, are you reading this Gary? BB is so small. Does she count as a whole dog?
Where is this retired couple located? ARF in Walnut Creek (www.arf.net) has scads of screened, nice chiwawa type dogs available every week. Rocket Dog Rescue in the city (www.rocketdogrescue.org) has plenty too.
You deserve an easy dog, IMHO. And BB deserves you. Just my $.02
Wow, hard, hard choice. I like the suggestion of making a home visit and seeing whether that tells you straight up one way or the other. But, having high-energy dogs who need to be exercised mentally and physically regularly and sometimes I just get tired of that, I certainly sympathize with having "just a dog."
FWIW, I got Boost from a breeder. First time I've ever done that. She is just about everything that I could want in an agility dog. But I think that I could have equal success with a rescue, and I'll probably go back to that for my next dog.
Hi! I recently came across your very cool blog and have been enjoying your archives very much. I'm starting to feel a bit stalker-esque, so I figured I'd go ahead and delurk.
BTW, I had a dream about Black Beauty the other night. You are a most excellent salesperson. Even though I am the herding breed dog type, I have been thinking, "YES, this Black Beauty creature is exactly what my empty lap has been needing! How could I have overlooked this?!?!?"
I awoke from the dream thinking it was real and making all kinds of plans for BB to come live with me. Which was very impractical, considering that I live in Tennessee and have a GSD who needs to be the only girl dog in the house. Oops.
I was both relieved and sad when I realized it was just a dream.
Anyhow... nice to meetcha. *waves*
Donna
Hi Donna in Tennessee! Waves! I once went to the Grand Ole Opry in Tennessee. I think we might have found a dog there too but I was on the back of a motorcycle and then it ran away and another story for another day.
You can visit BB's picture here and have a vicarious chihuahua because I have this feeling she is not going anywhere so I'll just learn to draw her better or maybe even camera train her.
Even though I woke up thinking, should I email that nice retired couple with the doggy door and the nice retired laps? And then she started jumping all over me when I let her out of her crate and she was just so darned cute again.
Come on, the BB question is rhetorical...of course she's found a new home--in your heart. There's no way she could go anywhere.
you make sure it's ok with Gary
then you help the nice older couple find another adorable dawg for thier laps
the only other thing to CONSIDER is that if you keep her there may not be room for the next dog in need - if thats what is meant to be then thats ok - but SOMETIMES I manage to let go of somebody I thought was staying just cause of that...
Rescue is near and dear to my heart too. Everyone seems to think that all rescues are broken and have a suitcases full of baggage. We've done it seven times now and most were blank slates just waiting for someone to write on them. As I'm sure you know from the horses, you can breed the best to the best and end up with a dud. There are no guarantees that a bred dog will be any better than a rescue. Glad you're still thinking rescue!!
Oh Laura, this is exactly why I can't foster dogs. I'm completely sold on BB, but I am biased since I have a mini team small dog myself with dogs that constantly get mistaken for chihuahuas. It seems to me that Black Beauty is a great fit with Team Small Dog. Having an easy going, sweet natured dog has its benefits. She may not be an agility dog, but she could be your dinner party dog! She could be Next Best Dog.
One request - to add more realism to her Palin bit, please teach BB how to say maverick in Spanish. I'm hoping it sounds less annoying in Spanish.
I look forward to years of BB drawings.
I have not been to the Grand Ole Opry, and it seems like every time I drive to or through Nashville I get lost, so it's fairly certain you've had a better time there than I have.
Interestingly (or maybe not so much), I have actually visited Santa Cruz, although I'm not sure you could really call it a "visit." I spent a couple-few hours at the boardwalk back in the eighties. That was about three lifetimes ago--much happier times then, when I was younger, thinner, and more optimistic about the way my life would go.
Post a Comment