News

I’ve gotten better about the whole plane phobia, I didn’t really freak until right now, about three days ahead. Jonathon requested I not save all the freaking until the day before, because it was too much stress to shovel in just twenty-four hours. So, at his request, I’ve decided to stop holding it all in check and let ‘er rip.
“AAAAAHHHHHH!” There, the inarticulate scream is out of my system.
What to do to stay calm? Hmm. It’s either more gardening, or shopping. Not for clothes or normal girl stuff, but for stones, jewelery, or animal stuff. I have to be really careful when I’m this stressed or we end up with new pets, and with three dogs, one indoor fish, and innumerable outdoor fish, we don’t need more pets. We really don’t. No, honest, we don’t. (I’m trying to convince myself.) I find nothing initially lowers the stress level like a puppy, of course, the subsequent days of potty training, obedience training, and trying to integrate a fourth dog into our pack raises the stress level. Watch Cesar Millan on “Dog Whisperer”, and you’ll see what I mean. Just because the three dogs we have get along doesn’t mean the fourth will. We learned that when we added Pippin to our pack, while Jimmy was still with us. Pip was great as a wee pup with everyone, then he got a little older, and he and Jimmy went at loggerheads. Jimmy wouldn’t give up being top dog, and Pip thought that out weighing him by double his body weight and double his height, that should have won him some respect. Jimmy disagreed. We got things calmed down, and worked with everyone, but it taught us that that cute little puppy is going to grow into a grown-up dog and if it’s not a breed you’re familiar with, you may have a learning curve.
We’d had pugs, and half pugs, but Pip is only one quarter pug, one quarter Brittany, and half Boxer. The Brittany seems to make him fearful of novelty, and gun shy. The Boxer makes him very physical, and he can jump like no one’s business. I’m used to Pugs, they can be fast, and can jump, but they aren’t exactly gazelle like. Pip is very deer and gazelle, as he dashes through the house. I thought that part pug would even it out, but though it’s made him a little calmer then 100 % of Boxer, he’s really a Boxer in a slightly more svelte package. I now have about every book on Boxers out there, plus books designed to teach you how to train your Boxer. Just because you’re something of an expert on one breed doesn’t mean you will be an expert on a totally different breed. And part pug is not the same as half pug. I have to say that Pip is either going to win us to never adopting anything less than at least fifty percent pug, or, every once in a while, we get crazy and think maybe we’ll get a whole Boxer. That inclination usually passes, but every once in awhile . . .
By the way, it’s not the Boxer’s fault that we think it’s too much dog for us. It’s totally our fault. Any, large, physical dog needs more attention and more exercise than a smaller less physical dog. One book describes the Boxer motto as, “Airborne and Loving It,” I’m more couch potato and fairly happy. Boxer, especially young ones are not couch potatoes. Sometimes on our walks Pip will try to follow a passing jogger, as if, “Please, take me with you.” He’s so physical, so athletic. Is it wrong to feel like your dog deserves a more physically fit owner?
But this week, I was going through that shelve and pile of books-to-be-read, and I found something on the shelf of dog books. A desk calender, totally unwritten in, clean and new as the day I purchased it. I bought it for the pictures, as I often do when I’m researching. But the date on this calender was 1998. I wasn’t researching the topic of this calender that long ago. Have you guessed? Yeah, it’s a Boxer desk calender. Pictures of Boxers of all ages and sizes, colors; page after page. Pip is only five, so the calender was purchased years before we ever thought we might get a Boxer. But, apparently, it was on my mind, even then.
Sometimes in life, you don’t get what you planned on, or what you wanted, but what you needed. Pip was supposed to be a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, or another pug. Both small dogs, and closer to personalities that I was more familiar with, but, instead we visited Granite City APA to just see how they’re doing. I try to check all the charities we supports periodically. But they had a roomful of abandoned puppies, it was like puppy pheromone heaven. I just didn’t have enough fight in me, to not bring home a puppy. I soooo, have to stay away from the rescue groups for awhile. We did the puppy testing to see how dominant he was, or was not, and he’s a great dog. There are just days when I wonder if he wants to be with a different family, one that agility trains with him, or runs with him, then he’ll jump up and sit in the window like some huge black cat, gazing out at the world, and I think, “If we were more structured would we let him on the back of the couch? Would we let him curl all sixty pounds of him in our laps? Would this more organized family have someone home with him all day, and have pack mates for him to play with?” Trust me, to let my own dog make me feel insecure. Of course, maybe it’s just the nerves. Stupid plane. No, lovely plane, I mean, it’s not personal, you wonder of technology, please don’t take it personally, and fly, nicely, safely, for us next week.
But I think there’s something about Boxers, some lesson, that I need to learn. Maybe, it’s that they are one of the happiest breeds around. They always have that laughing, panting smile, and those mischievous eyes. Pip has that more worried pug/Brittany thing going on. But I think what I need is to embrace my inner Boxer and get more physical and more up-beat. “Airborne and Loving It!” Who me?