June 11, 2009

Oh, Brother!

I have spent a great deal of time on this Dog Blog talking about the differences in dogs. Many humans feel we are all the same and I’ve seen it as my mission to dispel this belief. We are very different; very, very different.

BUT…

And I feel a little awkward saying this…

Some of us are very much alike.

So it is with my brother, Captain. I had never met him until last night and though it wasn’t exactly like looking in the mirror, it was pretty spooky how alike we are!

I brought two gifts with me — a floating buoy and a extra large, squeaky tennis ball. The whole evening, Captain I played “who gets the ball now?” This is when I noticed how many of our mannerisms are the same. We even have the same bark and the same growl and the same bouncy run. Genetics are powerful things, eh?

All evening long, Captain and I played with the ball. He’d play with it for awhile and then roll it to me. I’d play with it for awhile and then roll it back to him. He stalked me while I played and I stalked him while he played.

Okay, so his nose is a little longer and his hair has more of a wave, but you have to admit, we look and even pose a lot alike!

And we know the same tricks…he can shake with both hands too!

I’ll admit, meeting my brother and playing with him made me very happy and I’m very excited that he will come for a sleepover next week. I’m sure they’ll be lots more observations about our similarities as well as our differences and lots of photographs of how happy I am to have a friend in my brother!

But that was last night. Today was a work day, but a fun one that started with a trip to the dog park with Ollie.  Usually this dog park isn’t very full, but today there were lots more dogs and people and a cute little girl all waiting to play with us!

The little girl in pink knew how to handle me. She just pulled the ball right out of my mouth and threw it into the water. Ollie was impressed; so was Gretchen. I was impressed by her brand new cowgirl boots!

The little girl with the impressive boots came to the park with two of her Grandma’s dogs (I think they were named Willy and Annie, but I can’t remember)…oh, and the little girl came with her Grandma, too.

When we weren’t playing with the little girl (or she with us) we were playing with all the other dogs both in and out of the water!

Whew! Yes, I was tired after this so it was good I got a bit of rest before we picked up Teabiscuit.

Usually Teabiscuit doesn’t acknowledge me when I show up for a walk, but today she actually kissed me!  How sweet.

Then we went for a walk and ended up at the big park where the girls from the local middle school hang out. A little background. Before I was a dog dog walker, I was a classroom dog working in Gretchen’s 5th grade room. So when we saw the girls at the park, well, I got really excited! And when I am excited, I roll in the cool grass!

Can you see how thrilled I was?  Teabiscuit had a great time too because all the girls wanted to pet and hold her. She likes that!

We both soaked up the love today and later, Biscuit thanked me for introducing her to all my girl-friends!  I told her that she was one of my girlfriends, too and she kissed me again, right before we left her at home. How sweet!

I’m off to agility class this evening, but today has already been a really fun day. I can’t imagine it getting any better, but I’ve been surprised before! Heck, I was surprised last night when I met my brother, Captain!

Have a great Thursday,

Rubin