Mowgli

Yes CJ, its story time with Gerry once more.

Nita, my wife and I adopted a puppy. His name is Mowgli, he is goofy and fun-loving, and is the cutest one of the litter at the rescue centre. He appears to be a Sheppard/Lab mix. I am unabashedly a dog person. I don’t have a problem with cat people; my brother Rob is one. Having put up with me for over 10 years, Nita can also claim to be a dog person.

My granny, whose spaniel was named Brownie, is my first dog memory. I think Brownie died when I was about 4, and I think all the grandchildren (mea culpa, or maybe mea mega culpa) were just too much for the 14-year-old. Granny loved Brownie. Unfortunately, I think we scarred the bejeebers out of her.

My brother, Frank, and his family, are the penultimate dog persons of my side of the village; they have had 4 dogs, and have some very fond memories of them. Tux was their first, and he was a rescue Lab mix. As dogs go, Tux was a patient gentleman.

When Amanda, my older daughter, was learning to stand up, she discovered, that she could grab hold of the fur on Tux’s sides and pull herself up to a standing position. The first time she did this, Tux had a very strained look on his face, and looked somewhat sheepish when he walked away and Amanda landed on her butt. When next she tried it again, he licked her face. She put her hands up to stop him, and wasn’t able to grab his fur. Like I said, a gentleman.

A few years later, Frank was visiting us in Guelph, and he and I took my dog, Taffy for a walk. There was a dog across the street, and when Taffy started to head in that direction, I snapped my fingers. Taffy immediately heeled, and sat at my foot.

Later at home, Taffy was getting frisky, and wanted to play. I turned to her and said “Git” She found a toy to play with and left us alone. At this point Frank says to me “You bastard! I spent almost $1000 dollars sending 2 different dogs to obedience classes, and nobody ever taught me “Git” or finger snapping!” (These things Mowgli will learn.)

On Nita’s side of the village, THE doggie person is her sister Arti. Art and I have some deep philosophical differences when it comes to people training dogs, and dogs training people, but nobody cares more for their boys nor would sacrifice more for her babies than our Art. Straight up, if everyone treated each other the way Art treats her boys, terms like détente and IED would not exist.

When I first went to the shelter to see Mowgli’s litter, he was there with 2 brothers and a sister. They were playing. He looked at me, came over to say hi, and it was love at first bite. I handed over the adoption paperwork immediately. That same evening, I brought Nita out to meet him. When we arrived, Mowgli, né Calvin, had left for his overnight foster home, and we only had his litter mates to look at. Another puppy browser commented how they all looked like they had Rottweiller in them.

Red light! Nita does not like rotties, and thinks they are too aggressive and scary looking. We were able to make arrangements to stop by and see him where he was spending the night. Nita was voicing her opinions about rotties. I was worried that she would not like him, but when we got there, he had her at hello.

After Mowgli’s first night, I remembered just how distasteful house breaking is. After a nights sleep (good left out intentionally as Mowgli still thinks it’s OK to tell us he’s rolled over and there’s no one there to keep him company while he’s sleeping), and performing my morning ablutions to the strains of puppy yodeling, I get to start my day by receiving, with great humility, the gifts and offerings left by our operatic slipper chewer. I know some of these offerings need to be revered as they stink to high heaven.

So now I trudge out 2 or 3 times a day around our rainy neighborhood, dragging a reluctant soaked Mowgli behind me. He’s trying to figure out why I’m trying to drown him, and why I keep collecting his offerings; “Does he like my crap that much?”

Sorry folks, no life lesson here, just some unabashed puppy loving.

Cheers Mowgli!

(To honor all the dogs in our families; Brownie, Saxon, Poppy, Taffy, Tux, Cactus, Max, Phoebe, another Max, Georgie, Ulysses, Sam, Luther, Jack, Horton, Lola, and finally Mowgli. There will, no doubt, be more.)