On dogs
Our best friends for a reason
A wee departure today from my usual focus on energy and electricity. Enjoy.
It’s nearly a year to the day since our family bid farewell to Hazel our 11 year old staffy/kelpie X. Hazel was a great dog. Yes, she had her issues, principally a bit of anxiety which manifested as aggression, but on balance she brought love and joy to our lives in spades.
I’m a “dog guy”. Though it wasn’t always so. I grew up with cats, fish, birds, and a rabbit, but never a dog. So, growing up, I thought I’d had a varied pet experience and wasn’t convinced that dogs had much to offer. My wife had always maintained that dogs were awesome and it was in the plan for us to get one, once we got settled. I reluctantly agreed.
Hazel as my first dog, taught me so much. I learned that dogs are insanely smart and always so attuned to their family. Dogs are extremely loyal (it does vary by breed), love a cuddle and will do the quirkiest things to get your attention. More than anything else they just love to hang out with you.
In contrast to cats, which are somewhat “set and forget”, dogs require effort. This is sometimes a pain. There have been countless times getting home late from work on a cold Christchurch winter’s night, and the last thing I want to do is go out and take the dog for a walk. However, there are few times you regret taking a dog for walk. I think the metaphor for life is somewhat apt here. Hard things are worth doing because they give you purpose, meaning, and satisfaction.
As I said, owning a dog requires effort. You’re ideally supposed to walk them twice a day (not always achieved). You need to train them so they don’t menace the neighbourhood when you’re out and don’t eat your laundry. You also need to adapt your approach as they change throughout their accelerated life, relative to people. How you manage a puppy, as I’m currently learning, is much different from how you look after an older dog.
Which brings me to the source of inspiration for this post. We acquired a new puppy a couple of months ago. He was rescued from a farm and we are reliably told that his breed is “heading dog”. This is not an official breed but is essentially a mix of collie, labrador and greyhound. Quill was rescued and given his name along with Stark and Bucky who were also rescued at the same time. The rescuer liked to theme her dogs and this time round it was a Marvel universe theme. We actually loved the name, and despite racking our brains for a replacement have stuck with it.
Warning, if you’re squeamish and in process of enjoying your breakfast, you might want to skip this next bit for later…
This morning’s sleep in was interrupted by screams of horror from my nine year old son who promptly came downstairs to inform us that Quill has eaten his hearing aids. Putting aside the $3,500 trouble that he is in to replace said destroyed hearing aids, my son was more concerned about Quill because he couldn’t find one of the little li-ion button batteries that power the devices. Logical conclusion; the dog has swallowed it.
We call the after-hours vet. After a line of questioning and advice from the vet, the consensus seems to be that we will keep a close eye on him and hopefully the battery will “pass”.
Well, I can report the outcome of a happy story. At 530pm this evening on our evening walk, you could find me on the side of the road, “fishing” through my dog’s faeces looking for said battery. Success, it was there, and it seems dog health crisis averted - this time.
Dogs, you’ve got to love em.
Great post. We 😅 a lot. Hope Henry is not upset. I'm not sure Rusty is a set and forget cat. He certainly doesn't let us forget him. Enjoyed what you wrote. You didn't mention chooks. We had chooks !!!!!