April 22, 2009

Rubin is currently indisposed, but has invited some of his clients to provide their “tails” of our dog walking adventures. Rubin hopes to be back at the keyboard soon, but in the meantime, he’s excited to have you read about our work from the viewpoint of his friends!

Lucy’s Tails

A photo from our puppy years
A photo from our puppy years

Hi!  You don’t know me…well, maybe you do. I’m Lucy and despite the title of this blog, I do not have a tail…well, not much of one.  I don’t have much of anything actually because I’m as skinny as the wind and just as fast, too.

I’m honored that Rubin chose me to be the first to write on his blog.  I thought for sure he’d choose Monty, but actually, Rubin and I go way back since we were born within a month of each other.  (I’m older…wiser, too.) As puppies, Rubin and I spent lots of time together chasing each other and sleeping side by side in his “donut bed.” He outgrew that bed and I inherited it and to this day, there’s no place I’d rather be than curled up under my afghan (blanket, not dog) sleeping.

That’s where Rubin usually finds me when it’s my day for a walk. Today was such a day andout front I felt really lucky because Monty joined me. I like Monty. He likes me, too, but we’re both rather shy about it all.  We walk together looking like distant cousins. I’m short, he’s tall. We’re both black and white, but he’s curly and I’m not. Our tails are the same length, relatively and we both like to be out front on our walks.

This is how we start our walks…forging ahead down the street, but as we get into the groove and over our shyness, we move closer and closer together glancing at each other out of the corner of our eyes.

Yeah, we kind of have a thing going on, but we’re both too polite to take it to the next level.  We keep waiting for the other one to make the move, but Monty is too polite, and I’m too…well, I’m too focused on getting to the field so we can play fetch, which I will admit is my personal obsession in life.

But if you watch us walking together, you’d see how much we like each other.

good friends

Today we walked along the ridge and down to the tennis courts. I suffer from allergies and so Gretchen is kind of enough not to run me through the tall grass of the park. The tennis courts are fine, though as the the weather warms up, we’ll have to go back to the field since humans like to play tennis there. Imagine that!

a tad chillyBecause of my size and my lack of hair, I tend to get kind of cold. Along with my NEED to play fetch, I get a bit annoyed with Gretchen’s requests to take our pictures. She thinks Monty and I are cute together and while I agree we make a perfect couple, it’s cold out there (where’d the sun go?) and that makes me chilled.

But I know that if I’m patient enough, eventually the orange and blue balls will come out and we’ll get to play fetch. That makes me happy. That makes me very happy.

It also makes Monty happy…or so it seems. Lately, he’s become this silly dog who finds it very fun to fetch the ball and then climb onto the bench and lie down.  What? Isn’t the whole purpose of fetch to obsessively get the ball, bring it back, get the ball, bring it back?

Apparently, that’s not how Monty sees it.

on the bench on the bench 2on the bench 3

I don’t get it. He climbs up there, lies down, drops the ball, and then watches it bounce on the court. Only when Gretchen picks it up again does he jump down and fetch the ball. He’s tried to explain it to me, but I don’t get it. “It’s fun,” he says, “you should try it!” But the bench isn’t what I like about fetch…it’s the ball!

After I was dropped off, Gretchen walked Oshi and Perrito. Actually, we dropped Monty off at his house and I got to walk with the boys (in their new, stunny hairdos!) back to my cushy bed with the warm afghan (blanket, not dog!).

Oshi and Perrito got to visit the school where my mom works and there they met a student who was very excited to see them.

so cutefriends

After their visit, they went on a long walk and headed home where they met up with their best friend…Orondo the Cat. I’ve met Orondo. I’m not sure why Rubin doesn’t like him. He’s quite nice and is very friendly to dogs, but Rubin told me that Orondo scratched Perrito and that’s why Perrito has a goopy eye right now and had to go to the doctor’s office.  I know how he feels. When my allergies kick in, my eyes get all itchy and I have to take medication, too. It’s no fun, but Perrito is healing well and seems to have forgiven Orondo.

Next up, Gemma. Now I must tell you that I have spent some time with Gemma and while generally I don’t like girl dogs OR puppies, Gemma’s grown on me.  Perhaps that’s because, like me, she’s a terrier.  Hard to say at this young, but she appears to have that obsessive drive that I like.  Gemma got to play with Quillette (another female dog I like) for awhile…

friendsgood friends

…and Quillette, an older gal, tolerates Gemma’s terrier persistence with only an occasional schooling. Like while they played at the tennis courts, Gemma ran full bodied into Quillette and Quillette gave her quite a protest growl. Gemma apologized and then decided to play fetch (see why I like her?) while Quillette played soccer with her mom, Jessica, who joined them on the walk.

I can play fetch!soccer dog

Gemma, still a puppy, likes to imitate and Quillette is a good dog to mimic.

relaxingrelaxing

The day ended with a dog I have not met. Monty’s told me all about Jasper, though. Monty really likes him. He says he’s kind of shy, but very friendly and the two of them spend their walks sniffing flowers and peeing on trees.  I guess that’s a guy-thing. “No fetch?” I ask.

“No. Life isn’t all about fetch,” Monty tells me.

It’s not?

new friends On their evening walk, Monty told me that he and Jasper met a new friend.

“Yeah, like we were in the park and Jasper said, ‘Hey, Monty. Check out this dog!’ and so I went over to meet the new guy.”

“He looks a bit stiff,” I said.

“Yeah, and kind of cold, but he’s very well-behaved!” Monty added.

“What was his name?” I asked.

“Carl and is name is like stamped on his body. ‘Good Dog, Carl.’ Jasper tells me he’s like famous this Carl dog.”

“What for?” I asked.

“I have no idea,” Monty exclaimed. “Maybe for standing there on three feet and NEVER moving!”

“Jasper doesn’t seem so impressed,” I commented.

“No,” Monty explained. “He says Carl might be well behaved, but he smells funny. Unlike me, though. Jasper says I smell really good!”

Monty and Carl yum!

I hope to one day meet Jasper. I kind of have this thing for big, strong dogs and from the photos and Monty’s description, Jasper is such a fellow.  And he poses well, doesn’t he?

tulips more tulips

Well, that’s it for me — Ms. Lucy Ball (that’s my full name).  Thank you, Rubin, for this opportunity. I hope you ask me again, but now I’m off to play fetch again with my mom after which I’ll curl up in the donut bed you gifted me underneath my warm afghan (blanket, not dog!)

Lucy

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