Neil Gaiman, brilliant author that he is, also has a blog. I had no idea until another blogger linked this post about the loss of his dog, Cabal.
It's a touching story and a sad one.
He quoted Kipling:
THERE is sorrow enough in the natural way From men and women to fill our day; And when we are certain of sorrow in store, Why do we always arrange for more? Brothers and sisters, I bid you beware Of giving your heart to a dog to tear. For some light relief after reading Neil's post, here are my dogs, tearing up my heart, or fighting to win it.
They are quite sweet with each other most of the time, but Bender does like to bite Barbie's ankles. When he gets rough she comes and hides behind me, or squeezes herself into the corner of the couch.
Barbie didn't know what a stuffie was when we got her two years ago. Actually, she didn't even know what leaves were and was fascinated by them. She used to scoop one up in her muzzle and carry it around with her.
Anyway, I have been working with her to build her toy drive. We have gotten her a large variety of stuffed toys and I think I now have a good feel for the ones she likes. She prefers the expensive ones from the pet store that have more than one squeaker - she will take them to her bed and methodically munch on them until they squeak. There are some op shop stuffies that she likes, the softer the better.
So I went into the op shop in the city the other day and spotted a monkey with long arms, legs and a tail, for a princely sum of 50 cents. It was suitably soft and was already missing an eye. When I took it up to the cashier the lady said 'oh, I am so glad this little guy is going to a good home'. I didn't have the heart to tell her what kind of home he was actually going to.
She would have been absolutely horrified.
He has held up pretty well so far, about 5 or 6 tug sessions like this one. He is a bit goopy from Bender's slobber and lost his other eye, but so far all of his limbs are intact. Hopefully the monkey will hang around long enough to get a name, but we shall see....
I went shopping at K-mart on the weekend. I don't go to K-mart often because it requires riding up a rather steep hill, and then negotiating a car park full of rubber-burning feral locals. It was a little bit wet too, which ensured there were a few vehicles deliberately losing traction and fishtailing in the wet. What happened to the old code that if you can't light 'em up in the dry, you have no right to in the wet?
Anyway K-mart sells a variety of things. I went to look for some cheap sporting attire, and some cheap bike bits (a $3 bell and $8 kickstand for Nic's bike, and a $18 bike computer for mine). I just happened to see a bin full of dog squeakies shaped like junk food. I selected a burger for Bender's fat mouth, and a hot dog for Barbie's skinny one.
I then gave them the toys and sat back to watch what happened.
I have taken photos of them playing tug-of-war with their toys in the loungeroom before, so I decided a video would be better this time.
