December 3–6, 2006 This dog’s given name, “Cha-Cha Charlie,” is beneath my dignity. I call him “Dog.” Dog is what they call a “puggle.” Designer dogs — hybrids of papered breeds — are a big deal these days: cockapoos and labradoodles and shepradors, bogles and beabulls and bockers and basstons. I’m not kidding. Dog, as you might imagine, is half pug, half beagle. At three-and-a-half-months old, Dog is small enough that his head can fit […]
Read moreCategory: Foster Dogs
Canine boarders
Pup 16: Coco Bean
October 15–18, 2006 Poor little Coco: not needed. I’m trying not to identify too much. Coco is probably the most trying dog I’ve fostered. Part bullet and part barnacle, she relentlessly flew at me and then stuck where she landed. Try walking down a flight of stairs, vision blocked by the 40-pound laundry bucket in your arms and a 30-pound projectile tangling in your legs. I was not amused. I tried to get a good […]
Read morePup 15: Figaro
September 13–18 By the time I met Figaro, his wife had left him. Unfortunately for Stella — not the subtlest of romancers — it was a case of unrequited love. I can’t imagine what my neighbors thought. For the better part of a week my backyard was a symphony of “Stellaaaaaas” and “Figaro, Figaro, Figaroooooohs.” Here’s my friend Beth again, during intermission.
Read morePup 14: Jack Sparrow
July 21, 2006 Around 5 o’clock this afternoon I was yacking with my visiting friend Beth when I had the sudden urge to go to the pet adoption store. She indulged me. Needless to say, I left with an overnight foster dog. Jack is a huge, blonde, shepherdy-faced dog. I asked Beth, who knows a lot about animals, if she thought he was purebred. “Uh … purebred what?” she answered with infinite diplomacy. Stella’s only […]
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