Dogs Rule!

By Kris Neri

I love dogs. I love their playful spirits, that they live totally in the moment and especially that there’s at least a bit of goofiness in even the most dignified among them, and a lot more than a bit in most of them.

People who don’t like dogs will often insist that they don’t like them because dogs are pleasers — that they live to do their masters’ bidding. Most people who share their lives with dogs would probably take issue with that. Some dogs are kind enough to let the people they live with think they’re in charge, while others definitely wouldn’t want their owners to get that impression, since it would upset the balance of power. What dogs mostly excel at is training us.

We used to have a wolf-hybrid named Amanda, who has since passed on, who flunked out of obedience school twice. Two different obedience classes with different teachers. She disrupted the class to such an extent that whenever the instructor called for an off-lead exercise, during which Amanda was likely to gather up the other dogs and take them off somewhere, the instructor usually asked my husband and Amanda to sit that one out, so she didn’t train the other students in ways their owners probably wouldn’t want.

  

It wasn’t that she couldn’t do the obedience exercises — in canine terms, she was a genius. It was that she had too much pride to debase herself with an activity that she clearly regarded as pointless.

Like people, dogs display a variety of personal styles. They aren’t all unruly rebels like Amanda was, but they do all have ways of transforming activities to suit them. Another of our dogs who’s departed now, Jake, an Old English Sheepdog-mix, didn’t take such offense from the obedience training, he just seemed to regard it as boring. So he didn’t have to pay attention to the teacher’s instructions, he took to resting his paw on my shoe during class. When I moved my foot, it dislodged his paw, signaling to him that it was time to do something. There was a lot of doggie goofiness in Jake, but occasionally he showed great wisdom, too.

I often try to put pets into my writing. Not only do I think my characters will like having pets in their lives as much as I do, I assume my readers will enjoy coming to know my animal-characters as well. Whenever possible, I use the appearance of my departed pets, even though I allow the story to dictate their character traits, so I get to spend a little more time with them when I write about dogs that look just like them. In case you can’t guess from the description, Jake returns as Buddy in Dem Bones’ Revenge and Revenge for Old Times’ Sake. Amanda recently lent her appearance to a wolf-dog named Lobo in a story I just wrote.

If I’d had any doubt about how wrong that whole pleasing-theory is, my recent viewing of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on TV would have disputed it. If dogs are all so gung-ho to do our bidding, why do even the best of the best need nibbles of food to be made to perform as they should during the whole minute they’re being judged?

Nearly all dogs live to eat. My all-time favorite doggie cartoon shows a ship sinking in the background. In the foreground there’s a lifeboat filled with dogs. The caption reads: “All those in favor of eating all the emergency food now, raise your paw.” Naturally, all paws are up. The title of this cartoon was, "Why Dogs Rarely Survive Shipwrecks."

At our bookstore, we serve pizza and wine to our book club. Our Cocker Spaniel Annabelle — named for the goddess/FBI agent-protagonist in my urban fantasy, High Crimes on the Magical Plane — loves pizza night so much, she starts drooling as soon as we set up the tables we use for the club. And she waits at the door for the pizzas to arrive, even before my husband leaves to pick them up. (If you’re wondering why we don’t simply have them delivered, not all the delivery guys have proven to be as smart as our dog.)

Dogs are characters. Anyone who’s lived any length of time with a dog who doesn’t regularly crack up over that dog’s antics, simply isn’t paying attention. Annabelle has decided the TV remote must be important or we wouldn’t keep touching it. Now when we watch TV, she hooks the remote with her claws and slowly pulls it toward her, and she keeps her paw over the buttons, all the while shooting us looks to see if we’ve discovered she’s assumed remote authority.

If you love dogs as much as I do, won’t you share some of your favorite stories?

BTW I also love cats, and I’ve shared my life with some great ones. I’ll write about my little feline monkeys another time. But if you feel like sharing some anecdotes about your cats, do it.

Comments

[Linda O.]

As anybody who knows me, or who reads my Pet-Sitter mysteries, or has read the first in my new Pet Rescue Mystery series, I adore dogs and let them rule my life! Love your description of your beloved dogs, Kris. As I always say, I remain at my pups' bark and call.

[Tiger]

You house sounds a lot like mine. I have a big sign on the door: This house is run for the convenience of our dogs. Says it all. And yes, two of mine have flunked obedience - several times. I still love them!

[Leslie]

My dog never went to obedience school. But he trained us fairly well without it. We almost lost him a few weeks back. He was very ill and we thought we were going to lose him. My daughter almost came home early from school. The cat never left his side. Stayed with him and snuggled up to him.I think that the cat thinks that she is a dog. She never meows. Probably because she has not figured out how to bark.

[krisneri]

Much luck with the new series, Linda.

[krisneri]

Tiger, we don't have the sign, but it's just as true in our household! The truth is we like spirited dogs that see no point in obedience classes!

[krisneri]

Oh, Leslie, what a scare you had! I hope he's doing okay now. Animal devotion really is evident when one of their pals is sick. I've seen it in my pets, too. Good thoughts for you and your dog.

[Teri O]

Our dogs (all 4)know they are the teachers, we are the students. Relax, curl up with me, nothing is as important as a tummy scratch is what they seem to convey. Okay, except the cattle dog. She is vigilant. Well, except for the tummy rub thing. The others, two sister beagles and a shepard/whatever mix live to eat, sleep, play and be lap blankets. not a bad life!

[krisneri]

Teri, they all sound like great friends. I also think they're here to teach us something. A pretty nice life, I'd say.