Tuesday, June 06, 2017

dog musings

i think she is some combination of whippet-pharaoh hound-german shepherd-maybe even doberman... tho she acts like a border collie... she has gotten out now three of four times. she looks like a black bullet when she runs, like a track dog, but smaller, less hyperthyroidish. i got home from the drunk meeting, a kid from school yells, mrs page, you want a dog? and there across the road is penny's big round eyes & kangaroo ears peeping from the kid's sister's yellow car. (sister is the polite, pretty girl from the pizza parlor bc this is a very small place & humans dovetail constantly.) they'd spent an hour trying to catch penny, who, they said, just kept "running up and down the road, almost getting hit by cars." they had to stop traffic so that penny wouldn't get killed. "she even ran down that road, mrs page!" the boy said, pointing to a very steep road to the south that leads down into the local "holler."
penny is an intelligent dog, but she young & frightened. they went home & got a collar, then  finally coaxed her into their car with treats. after that, they didn't know what to do, so they were trying to give her away. dumbass me hasn't yet put a collar on penny.
at the moment i coulda lost her, i drove up & saw the whole scene. the neighbor was out, too, the fellow across the road whom i rarely see, as well as a local woman, looking worried or maybe judgmental or maybe neutral & i'm projecting, just holding her little dog & watching watching watching.
after all my thank yous & mea culpas, i was just too embarrassed to take penny out for our first walk. so now we're hiding in the house, the shame of the neighborhood...
yes, she has learned to jump the fence, and, as joe neighbor said, "once they learn that, there's no stoppin' em." my heart is in my shoes; he's right, of course.
family suggests dog run; shaded kennel, electric fence (tushi); keep her inside; call the dog whisperer. i am hungry & nervous. i haven't gotten to exercise since doggy came around. i am hungry & nervous & fat. i know all will calm down. she just has to get to know that this is now her home.
on the up side, peewee is sitting calmly, fatly only 10 feet from penny. after three days of tantrums (hiding, barfing under the bed and on my desk, trying to kill penny), he has seemed to be used to the hyper little creature. peewee is an awesome little guy, as is peeps the inside-outside man. he & penny pass by each other all the time w/o problem, two commuters on the subway. they've been around other animals; they know more about life than protected prince pee.
i think it's all gonna be ok.
time to eat something & not feel too fat about it.

1 comment:

jenny page said...

we might have to get rid of her. :( she is just too, too hyper. :(
she & i just went for a 2 mile jog/hike/run. she is terrific on a leash, & forces me to keep a brisker pace. then we rested out back, watching the mountains & the light fade...
however, with james gone so much in one way or other, us gone a lot as-is, & with penny a proved fence jumper, i realize she'd be much better as a farm dog. she herds me to the door. she chases the cats. poor peewee is still so very unhappy.
she isn't out the door yet, & there's no way i will let her go to the pound, but... this is heartbreaking. :( i love this little girl. :(
(oh my gosh, peewee's in the same room with her, tiptoeing over... making his black vampire mouth glare... but he's there! going to his food bowl in the same room as resting penny!
(maybe there is hope!)