The new guy, Buddy. If you could boil down the essence of all hounds, it'd be him. Everything great, everything mortally infuriating. It's hyper-concentrated inside Buddy.
There's a powerful psychological game in play between any dog and its owner. They (the dogs) worked out the rules (theirs) over the thousands of years we have allowed them to sleep safely beside our hearths. They read us as we could never read ourselves.
Buddy, not yet 2-years old, has a new way of controlling his
He sits there, unmoving, staring straight at me. He doesn't move, even when I peer over and his gaze catches mine. He just sits there and stares at me until one of us gives in.
He never gives in.
They train us well, dont they Mound.......
ReplyDeleteWhat a great little pup. I had a beagle for 14 years. It's interesting about beagles because they never really settle down for two years and even then it's debatable. The S.P.C.A. is filled with two year old beagles whose owners just gave up. Good things come to those who wait and that's just what you have to do with this breed. Loyalty and love in spades for ever after. It's hard to say who's luckier. It is common knowledge with us that you don't train a beagle a beagle trains you. have fun
ReplyDeleteA very intelligent dog, Mound.
ReplyDeleteGreat shot. He looks pretty comfortable and stable in that pose.
ReplyDeleteAs much as it hurts when it becomes time to let them go I can't imagine living without dogs.
I love dogs and your Buddy looks adorable!
ReplyDelete@ Rural - exactly. His idea of obedience is to eat from the bowl in which I place his food.
ReplyDelete@ Zoombats. Yes, people buy them - especially from pet shops - because they're irresistibly cute but they shortly come to realize they've got a hound, a considerably different proposition that a terrier, setter, retriever, etc. They're hounds, not dogs, and they're a handful. The only thing that keeps them alive and fed is the fact that they're so affectionate. Play us like a harp.
@ Owen. Intelligent? In some ways, I suppose. They have the instincts of a grifter.
@ Dana - we do get accustomed to have them around and living without them creates a huge void. We build so much of our routine around them and there's something like 'phantom dog syndrome' after you've had to let one go.
Mound, I see my neighbour walking their dog. It is an illusion that the 'owner' is walking the dog. Invariably dog is walking the 'owner' and dog decides where to go - owner just follows.
ReplyDeleteThey do know how to get their way, LD.
ReplyDeleteWe have a fuzzy small beast thats shih tzu/maltese/bichon I call her the Empress, she rules her kiingdom like a despot or in recent times our former PM shes an autocrat. She plays us like a harp and gets everything she wants. People don't own dogs, they assimilate us into their packs.
ReplyDeleteOne of the world's top canine psychologists is at UBC. He contends that dogs have a genetically transmitted awareness of humans developed over the thousands of years since we first brought them to our fireside. They have an understanding of living with us that we don't share. It is evident when at times they seem able to read our thoughts.
ReplyDeleteHe is a Con MP Mound, jezz
ReplyDelete