The biggest problem with dogs is that they live in a parallel time/space continuum. They take a lifetime relationship and condense it into eight-, or ten- or twelve-years or so. As a result, you find your emotional relationship with your dog concentrated, and, eventually and inevitably, your emotional loss magnified.
It’s painful but it’s a good thing. Or it’s a good thing but it’s painful.
Sorry, but I have to think about losing a dog in these rather analytical terms because it’s hard for me to get more personal than that when I’m not wearing sunglasses.
I had two friends lose their dogs yesterday. Above is Cheyenne. My sister’s dog. Cheyenne was 16. Below is Honey, our friends Cheryl and Richard’s dog. Honey was 13. I’m thinking my sister and my friends have been very lucky.
Gerret and Maggie have both reached that level of maturity that makes dog companionship so enjoyable. So we took them on their first real car trip vacation to the Outer Banks. Of course it could not go uncommented on by The Gerret.
We’re a ways inland from the shore here at Bourbon, Dogs and Art, North Carolina. So even though they call North Carolina “hurricane alley” you might say we’re over on the next block. In the past we’ve prepared for a number of hurricanes, and sometimes it mattered and sometimes it didn’t. It’s that first hurricane where you should have cared but didn’t that sets the tone for the rest.
At any rate, if you’re living on the East Coast right now there’s no more overused phrase than “batten down the hatches” as Hurricane Irene heads up the coast.
What actually are battens you might ask? They’re slim strips of wood used to secure a tarp over a hatch on a boat as a storm approaches, or as you approach a storm. But over time it’s come to mean, “get yer shit together… NOW.”
So here we battened our hatches as has become our habit since we arrogantly tried to ride out Hurricane Fran in a travel trailer back in ’95. And now Hurricane Irene is headed north and not much happened here at Bourbon, Dogs and Art. We got some wind and some nasty gusts that brought some limbs down, and some rain but no downpours. But our preparations would only seem like overkill if you’re a rookie. (What’s a rookie? Someone who can’t believe there isn’t a flashlight battery available within 100 miles 48 hours before the storm is due. Sucker.)
Anyway, enough foreplay.
As you might know, I’m working on a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to print more woodland banners. As the wind started whipping up I figured it might be educational to document how the current banners handle an approaching storm. So me, The Gerret and Maggie (the dogs) took a walk. Shot some video.
I was trying to create a rather foreboding video as the tall pines whipped back and forth in the wind and the banners held on for dear life.
But Gerret and Maggie weren’t really with the program.
To digress for a moment, if you were following the news earlier this week there was that rare East Coast earthquake followed by a human interest story about how all the animals in the DC zoo reacted in advance of the event. Well in this case, Gerret and Maggie went out of their way to eschew my personal sense of drama and make it clear that there was nothing to fear but showing up late for dinner.
So here you see our version of Hurricane Irene, the woodland banners and the dogs.
Yesterday Gerret went to the Duke Canine Cognition Center to participate in their research into dogs’ ability to solve problems. The plan was to present Gerret with simple problems to solve that would result in a treat rewards.
But Gerret came with his own research problem. He’s a dog that’s not very food motivated, but rather more affection motivated. So his goal was to try to turn the session on its head and manipulate the researchers into giving him what he really wanted.
Here’s the newest dog thing in New Zealand – Doggelgänger Human to Canine Pairing. Whoa. Based on the fact/conceit that people often look like their dogs, it uses anti-terrorism face recognition technology to match humans with shelter dogs available for adoption throughout New Zealand. Whoa. Wait until homeland security hears about this. It’s not all that useful if you don’t live in New Zealand, but we can always dream, can’t we? So I visited the site and met my match. See above. That’s me on the left, and the dog I resemble on the left.
Of course that immediately inspired me to want to do more research on who should be adopting what. Here’s my research:
Bourbon, Dogs and Art is a blog by Steven Durland. It is mainly about bourbon, dogs and art (and chickens). BDA is also the name of his art studio. More about that and other bits of practical information available at durland dot com.
We’re a ways inland from the shore here at Bourbon, Dogs and Art, North Carolina. So even though they call North Carolina “hurricane alley” you might say we’re over on the next block. In the past we’ve prepared for a number of hurricanes, and sometimes it mattered and sometimes it didn’t. It’s that first hurricane where you should have cared but didn’t that sets the tone for the rest.
