Canine Company

His name is Gus, he is an English Bulldog, and he came to spend the weekend with us. Which may or may not have been a mistake, since my daughter and I already have Sam, the Newfoundland that takes up half the house, and Precious, the Yorkshire/Shih Tzu who thinks she owns the whole place, size or not. Precious, mind you, is a defiant haughty seventeen pounds. You can tell from the picture who thinks she is queen.

So in comes Gus, a neurotic sixty-five pounder. I could tell immediately that we were in for a testy find-your-place-in-the-scheme-of-things session. Precious started with her sharp "I'm the boss" BARK, BARK, BARK. Gus lifted his head slowly and growled back at her with a "You don't intimidate me" stance. (I don't think anybody can intimidate Gus.) Sam just looked over at the other two, then walked off and found a quiet corner in the kitchen to ride out the war.

Do dogs get asthma? Gus wheezed and wheezed and wheezed for the first two hours, after which I think he figured out he'd have to make the best of things. Now I know why his mama thinks he wouldn't do well in a kennel. He doesn't handle anything well, if Mama doesn't have a part in it. Pardon me: one thing he does do well and that is beg to be patted. He does thrive on attention. I finally got Gus settled on his Favorite Blue Blanket for a welcome nap. That is, until my daughter came home from work. A STRANGER! Wheez, Wheez, Wheez, Snort! We were off on another asthma session for half an hour. This time with a snort! I wondered what he was trying to tell me with that snort.

By suppertime everyone had settled down well again, including us humans. We had a good couple of hours until the next challenge came along--bedtime. "He usually sleeps on Mama's bed," I was told. She must have a big bed. Even though I plunked his F. B. Blanket on one side, he wandered all over the place, looking for the right spot. I don't know which of us got to sleep first. I just know that I kept turning on the bedlamp hopefully everytime he plopped down for a few seconds, only to have him start over. At least he let me sleep in--until 6:30!

Gus really has some good qualities. He has good outdoor toilet manners. He doesn't bark much. He comes when he is called. And he naps regularly. So, all in all, the visit went well. Sam got upset only once, when Gus grabbed for part of his cookie that he had dropped. (Sam is very docile ordinarily, but NOBODY messes with the few things he owns!) Precious learned she's faster than any competition around. And Gus, well, he learned he can get along without his Mama, at least for two days.

Enjoying the canine troops,
Margaret