About six feet from my chair, there lies a wolfdog. His canine teeth are almost an inch in length, and he has opened tins by biting through them in the past. I outweigh him by 12 kilos, but he is far stronger than I am. He runs faster, his senses are sharper. In a fair fight, there's no question about who would win. There's also no question about who is mistress: me.
Laszlo is a wonderful dog, joyful, expressive, intelligent and also wonderfully strokable (he has a ruff that would put pretty much any shag-pile carpet to shame). At 40kg, he is also potentially a bit of a handful - except that, as Cleodhna says, he defers to her (and, secondarily, to me), completely and utterly.
Cleodhna has on occasion had fantastically multi-coloured bruises on her arms that prompted jocular suggestions from friends that I had been beating her. As it happens, she got those bruises from Laszlo jumping up onto us in bed, and insisting that Cleodhna take him out to pee behind the library. (A large dog jumping elbows-first into bed will do that to you.) Laszlo gave her those bruises because he's a large, unsubtle dog, not out of malice. He lovesus - as well as a few other friends that he knows sufficiently well, such as Gareth and my mother.
I cannot say how proud I am of Cleodhna for taking what had the potential for being a difficult puppy, and by patience, intelligence and love, turning him into a fantastic dog. For all of those people who say that a University education is of little use, I will say this: Cleodhna decided that she wanted a dog, she did the reading, both through printed books and the Internet, and she ended up as one of the major dog experts in Glasgow's West End. And I think she has done remarkably well with the two dogs we have now.
I only wish everyone could do the same - which was the point of her journal:
last night [Misty's owner] was getting undressed for a shower and when he went to unbuckle his belt, Misty hit the floor, cowering in terror.
Misty, needless to say, is an adopted dog, and I don't want to think too hard about what her previous owner used to do to her. And from what I can tell, she is doing very well with her current owners. But still - I do wish that people would not mistreat their animals. I mean, if you want to inflict pain and anguish upon dumb creatures with only a semblance of humanity, why take it out on your dog? For the same price, you can get a PlayStation and vent your anger on video games.
Currently listening to: John Doe No.24 - Mary Chapin Carpenter, Stones In The Road. Seemingly from a period where Branford Marsalis was guesting on everything that moved, and it's a fantastic track. Email me for MP3.
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