Peeing and Humping: We Just Don't Do That

Trooper got peed on at the dog park tonight. It happens. He didn't seem to mind in the least. Dogs aren't really caught up in our finicky dilemmas--cleanliness, peeing in public, humping in public, whatever in public. Dog owners, I notice, are.

"Sweetums! Don't ROLL on that dirty grass. Ick. OMG, you just had a bath!"

"Charlie! For goodness sakes! Will you get off Petunia! We just don't do that!"

But, Sweetums wants nothing more than to roll in the barfy spot on the lawn. And Charlie can't hump enough, plus he isn't too concerned about who--male, female, large, small, dogs are all-inclusive humpers.

Zephyr peeing on Trooper. Or Trooper getting in the way. You decide. 

Red, a chihuahua mix, the same 9 lbs. as Trooper gives him a romp for his money. She throws him over like a WWF wrestling pro then takes him on like a scene from Showgirls: grind, grind, grind (insert Robert Palmer, "She's Addicted To Love").

Dude, I'm standing right here. Please. (Pee-on-a-bush-at-the-river envy)

Trooper is a humpy dog. Some dogs aren't. Some dogs are. Trooper very much is. And I'd let him carry on with his amorous ways--Hey! Get that heart rate up their, kid!--except for two very important points:

1) Trooper is NOT fixed. He's over 10 years old, off the streets and just underwent surgery, so he's doing better, but is still not at optimal health to undergo another surgery. And I've heard pros and cons about whether I should at all. I'm on the fence.

2) The more interesting of reasons is, the owners of Trooper's inamorata have sometimes looked terribly distraught to see their precious furry loved one's being pounded on by a furry little Ewok with a big glitter in his eyes. (Amorous is too weak a word. When Red leaves the park I have to restrain Trooper until she is long gone. He wants her that badly. Oh, Trooper.

Trooper would not hesitate to pee back on Zephyr, if he could reach.



We already anthropomorphise our dogs as it is. (I'm guilty too!) Shouldn't we let them have these few dogish pleasures?

Next week, well talk about dog barf and other fun dog facts. If you thought this was going to be all cute and cuddly dog stories, you didn't read the title.

d, xo

Dog Park

I'm getting nowhere with the whole transfer dog posts from Snowflower Street to here. Why? Because it's supposed to be simple. And my experience with anything that's supposed to be simple, is fricking complicated. Will leave it for now.

Meanwhile, I took the critters to a new dog park today, completely fenced, no escape routes! You'd think I would have drank my coffee and chilled, but no. I ran around following Trooper, fearing he would look up and feel lost, abandoned, then freak out--projection, projection, projection. In reality, he cruised around, sniffing and peeing, trot, trot, trot. I don't think he gave a hooey where I was.

In my defense, Zephyr does do that--look up and freak out because he can't find me. It's a horrible look, even for a second, before I wave him down. Panic is no one's friend and we do enough of it in this house already. Oye.

Anyway, all went well. the dogs roamed. I managed to drink most of my coffee hot, and Trooper even sniffed a very large pit bull that drooled bigger than he. My heart lurched in those waiting moments as the dog, his jaw the width of Trooper's length, checked him out, but it was all good. Hail Mary...

Now it's late and it's time for the troops to go out, before they get tucked in. It's a tough life being a dog in this house.

d, xo