There goes the peace and quiet

Just when I was getting used to being the only non-human in the house, No. 1 goes and brings home a puppy!

Sigh.

“Don’t worry,” she tells me. “He’s temporary.”

See, for years now No. 1 and No. 2 have been going to help out at this place.

Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter

Sometimes the animals there need to go to somebody’s house and live for a little while until they get their forever homes.

So No. 1 brought Munchkin home. She actually calls him Munchie.

He's chewing on Flopsy.

Munchie is all right I guess. We get along fine, except that he’s such a young whippersnapper and a tad too peppy for my taste. He likes to get in between me and No. 1, and actually kind-of pushes me out of the way when we’re all in the kitchen. Kind of thick, I must say.

Displaced!

We went out to lunch at a place that lets dogs eat on their patio.

You gonna eat that?

After a week, Munchie had another place to go. Here he is with his new pack.

Small, medium, and large.

I hear he’s very happy over there, with a couple of nice humans too.

It’s good to be back to the peace and quiet once again.

Woofs,
Willie

Edited: October 31st, 2011

And then there were none

The last of my Klingon packmates has gone to join her sisters.

Unlike the two calicoes, our Pale Tiger didn’t let anybody know she was feeling poorly. One day she just upped her sleeping schedule from 22 hours a day to 23½ hours a day. And can you believe, it? She quit eating.

No. 1 was out of town, and so No. 2 had to take her to That Place. Then he talked with No. 1 on the long-distance voice box, and said something like “large abdominabobble mass,” whatever that means. I think it translates to “better say goodbye.”

So the Pale Tiger stayed around, sleeping 23½ hours a day, until No. 1 came back home, and for a couple days after that, but then No. 1 and No. 2 took her away and came back without her. Then they emptied the sandbox that Klingons do their business in and they put it away, and that’s when I knew that I didn’t live with Klingons any more.

Klingon semaphore

No. 2 always said she had “silly ears.” He would turn her ears inside out and they would stay that way — she never seemed to notice!

This is how she got the nickname, “The Pale Tiger,” back in the days when she was much younger and No. 2 didn’t know how to focus a camera.

Here she is standing by the door to the linen closet, waiting for a human to let her in. She liked to take long undisturbed naps on top of the blankies. Sometimes she would stay in there all night and come out to greet the humans in the morning.

She was all right as far as Klingons go.

In Memoriam Pixel Mackenzie, 1990-2010

Woofs,
Willie

Edited: October 26th, 2011

What are papillons for?

After my last story, my buddy Toby sent in a question.

What are Papillons for? Molly says that dogs were originally bred for a purpose. We (cavaliers) were bred to be comfort dogs – keeping humans warm and happy – we’re good at that. Other spaniels were bred to sniff out game. (We are still pretty good with our noses.) So what is your speciality?

Well, we papillons are also a type of toy spaniel, descended from the continental toy spaniel a whole long time ago. Some humans think that there might be a little bit of chihuahua thrown into our mix to make our ears stand up but I don’t know. What’s certain is that papillons were a favorite kind of dog of the big important humans in a place called Europe. If you go to this place on the interwebs you’ll see a gallery with gobs and buckets of paintings that have papillons in them! We’re very good models.

Anyway, we are for just the same thing as you: to keep human laps warm!

We can do other things too, like agility. You remember I told my story about agility before? Recently, No. 2 and I saw a papillon named Primo on the Purina Incredibobble Dog Challenge on the teevee. He finished second that time, but guess what! He won the small dog agility this year! According to this place on the interwebs, you’ll be able to see him on the teevee again soon! Way to go Primo!

You might also want to watch this moving picture on papillons from the Animal Planet. Check out the little guy herding sheep! It also shows the most famous papillon of all, MY HERO, Kirby. He won the Westminster Dog Club show once upon a time. After that, humans started to recognize what kind of a dog I was when we went out for walks.

Finally, I’d like to put in a plug for a really good book, Memoirs of a Papillon by Genevieve.

The subtitle is, “The Canine Guide to Living with Humans without Going Mad.” I could write a book about that, but thanks to Genevieve, I don’t have to!

Woofs,
Willie

Edited: October 19th, 2011

In the land of the giants

No. 1, No. 2, and I took another car trip, to a place called the city.

It was very different from our last road trip, when we went to a place that had a wooden house, trees, places to run around, and no other humans anywhere you could see. This new place had lots and lots of people, and almost no ground at all! It was all asphalt and concrete, everywhere you looked. Where’s a dog supposed to pee? No. 1 and I looked and looked, and we couldn’t find any grass or ground cover or even any mulch! What kind of place is this?

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do until a city dog came along and showed me. There are little grates, about one foot by one foot, with some ground underneath and a tree in the center. Sometimes there would be a little square without a grate, and that was the spot for a potty break. Pretty pitiful if you ask me.

Aside from the lack of facilities, it wasn’t such a bad place. We had a really comfy bed, at least until No. 2 got up at a ridiculously early hour.

Can't you see some of us are still sleeping?

To get to our room you would get in a little closet with a metal door, and then a motor would whir and you’d feel as if you were moving and yet everything in the closet would stay in place. Eventually the motor would stop whirring and the door would open, and then we would be in a different place! How do they do that?

No. 1 was busy most of the day, so No. 2 and I got in the car and drove around the city. We stopped at a place where No. 2 said the giants played. It’s funny, though, I didn’t see any giants, just normal-sized people.

The park where the giants play.

No. 2 took this picture of me with a plaque, which he says shows one of the most famous giants. This one was named Willie, just like me! Willie Mays. Have you heard about him?

My favorite giant.

After visiting the park we walked along the waterfront. And walked. And walked. It was a looong walk. I still didn’t see any giants, but it seemed as if you really would have to be one to live in a place like this. No. 2 walked the legs right off me. Later that day, I slept in the car almost all the way back home.

Woofs,
Willie

Edited: October 16th, 2011

I like to read

As I’ve said, I live in a pack of writers, so of course I like to read too. My favorite subject matter is the papillon calendar.

My reading stack.

This guy, though… I think he’s up past his naptime.

TOO. MUCH. CAFFEINE.

Woofs,
Willie

Edited: October 12th, 2011

It’s just me and the Pale Tiger

Nowadays it’s just me, the humans, and the one Klingon. She’s the one that looks like a white Klingon and a striped Klingon collided at 60 mph. In her younger days, back where we used to live, she was quite the hunter. She caught her prey and flipped it high in the air to display her prowess. No. 2 dubbed her the Pale Tiger.

That was a long time ago, and those days are gone. Now she is much more rotund and she mostly sleeps. Since I like to sleep too, that means we end up sharing quite a bit.

Aw c'mon. Lay on somebody your own size.

Patooey.

Oh, I guess she’s not that bad.

More like a beached whale now.

Woofs,
Willie

Edited: October 9th, 2011

More good nap spots

You can’t throw a biscuit in our house without hitting a good place to settle down for a nap. Here are some of my favorites.

On No. 2's pjs.

No. 1 objects when he leaves them on the bed, but I don’t!

On my throne.

We have this ginormous pillow on the bed that the humans prop themselves up with when they’re reading. Other times, I like to get on top of it. It’s just right for a dog to relax on. No. 2 refers to it as my throne.

Under a blankie.

Sometimes in the chilly weather, No. 1 decides that I look cold, and she tucks me in. No. 2 thinks I don’t like it. Do I look like I don’t like it??

Woofs,
Willie

Edited: October 5th, 2011

Flowers and gardens

Paws up and many thanks to all my interweb friends for your nice words about losing a member of the pack. Me and the humans appreciate it. Biscuits for you.

Today I’d like to talk about one human quirk that I’ve never quite understood: They like plants. Especially flowers.

Our front door.

Let me just say for the record that I’ve got nothing against flowers. But I can’t eat them, and their scent is not the kind of perfume that a dog appreciates, so for me they’re just a part of the background.

I’s a different story for the humans. They think flowers are cute. That means they have to take pictures of them. Sometimes they even want to have a dog in the picture.

Fine. I'll pose by your hibiscusus.

No. 2 wasn’t satisfied with just growing flowers by our front door. A few years ago, he got a little garden plot in a nearby park, and he started growing them there, too.

No. 2's garden

I like these flowers. Know why? Because we have to take a walk to get to them!

Going for a walk to the park with my two humans is one of my favorite things. We take our time on the way to the garden, stopping to sniff all the pee-mail along the way. When we get to the garden, No. 2 picks some flowers and vegetables. Then he uses a magic rain shower device to make it rain. I do not care for this part, because sometimes the rain gets too close to me. In fact, sometimes I even wonder if he makes it rain on me on purpose.

But then comes the best part: the walk home! To a dog, there’s no place like home. Somehow this part of the walk never lasts as long as the walk to the garden. Maybe it’s because I’m out in front with my special going-home gait. Hurry up, you guys! What’s taking so long?

Woofs,
Willie

Edited: October 2nd, 2011