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Jen's Friends


ophelialaughs
 14th December, 2009. 3:16 pm.

I don't know if other people's dogs watch tv, or even notice TV, but Hannah liked Spongebob (YUCK) and the Dog Whisperer. By liked I mean, if either show was on she would perk up her ears and turn her head toward the set, peering out through her cataracts. I know how the dog experts online hate Cesar Milan, they say he's too old school and possibly mean, but Hannah liked him.

And while it doesn't mean I like everything about him, I like him too. Because he reminds me of my dad. Which is pretty old school, come to think of it.

I probably have dozens of stories that start, "Once I was with my dad and there was this dog..."

More than once when we were out riding bikes in the county, some big farmdog came charging out barking and snarling, and Dad would not really holler, but call out, "Go lay down." And the dog did, every time. Once we were in the bike-a-thon when this happened. The other riders could hardly believe it when this big collie-shepard mix made a big u-turn in the driveway and went back to his house without a yap of protest, but I expected it. It never in life occurred to me that a dog would choose to not listen to my dad.

Anyway, we never had a dog when we were kids because we lived in an apartment. But the neighborhood had a dog, a black and white mongrel, possibly a terrier-border cross with a tablespoon of spaniel, named Barney. Dad made us a toy to play with Barney. He took a broken toy garden hose that the hoe blade had snapped off of and tied a string to the end, and on the end of the string he tied a leather triangle cut from the chimney of a pair of his worn out work boots. We could pull the leather bait around and Barney would chase it. It was tremendous fun for us and Barney. We called this game, "Fishing for Barney."

Cobie mostly ignores the TV, except for the time he tried to attack Charlie Manson through the glass, and once when I was watching "It's Me or the Dog," and Victoria had this thing called "Fox on a Stick." Fox on a Stick is a toy fox on a string tied to a pole. It looked quite a bit like Fishing for Barney.

Turns out these things are called flirt poles now, and are apparently sometimes used for training fighting dogs? but yahnah. Cobie's a lover, not a fighter.

So yesterday I made a Fishing for Cobie pole. I used the handle of a mop the former homeowners left behind, and a bit of rope, and the one leather glove remaining after Cobie carried off the other one and buried it, which I take to mean he likes it. And he had a blast chasing that glove in circles.

Now somebody can come along and tell me how dangerous this toy is, even though I took it easy because he is still just a pup. But until then I can feel pleased that I finally did something right--or at least not traumatic--for the poor doggy dude.

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