We have found the perfect dog -- one that
lives with someone else 250 miles away.
It's the same thing that makes grandchildren the most popular
form of kids.
We were visiting our three Boise children and their families one
recent weekend when we encountered one of the most affable dogs I
have ever met. He was a temporary resident at our daughter's
house. She frequently boards strays for the overcrowded local
pound until they can be placed. It is normal to find a few extra
animals around her place every time you visit.
This particular time, she had a small black dog with some extra
helping of charm in its personality, not the least of which was
that it doesn't bark until your ears ring in the fashion of so
many dogs.
This pooch is a sane little dog, about 8 inches high at the
shoulder. It is a poodle that doesn't look like a poodle because
it doesn't have a competition haircut. I mention that because a
lot of people are put off by the formal poodle haircut. That
haircut contributes to the breed's reputation as some kind of
symbol of the rich and snooty. It is a snob dog in some minds.
Maybe that judgment fits some of the breed's owners -- the sort
of people who give the dog a haircut that makes it look like
those severely shaped shrubs (called topiaries) that some people
have in their yards. You know the kind of haircut -- the dog
trimmed very close over most of its body but with fluffy puffs of
hair (what a cat might call "hair balls") in strategic
locations. A traditional poodle looks like a half dozen
dishwashing sponges with legs.
But don't blame the dog for that. That's snootiness by
association. There has never been a case of a dog begging for a
weird haircut unnatural to its kind. It is only human beings who
do that.
In reality, poodles are like every other mutt in the world. There
is nothing fancy about them. They are into all the usual vulgar
dog habits from toilet drinking to sniffing others in rude
locations.
Keep a poodle away from the hair stylist and it just grows plain
old, naturally curly fur. And far from being some kind of
airhead, as often portrayed in cartoons, poodles are actually
rated as one of the smartest dogs. In fact, I have read that they
are the third smartest dog behind border collies and a breed I
can't remember now, probably because I'm not smart enough. But it
doesn't matter whether I remember because the whole idea of an
official list of dogs, ranked in the exact order of their
intelligence, is a bit of a stretch.
In the first place, intelligence is a relative term. One dog may
be fairly sharp by comparison with another. But by comparison
with a chimp or even a horse, most dogs lack both mental and
social skills. Next to a nightcrawler, dogs may be geniuses but
let's not get carried away with the intelligence of a species
whose members chase cars and eat garbage.
In the second place, how do you determine that a border collie is
No. 1, a poodle is No. 3 and that a beagle wouldn't stand a
chance against a clam in a game of Jeopardy? Did they sit these
dogs down and give them SAT tests?
This little dog at my daughter's house has unusual social skills,
not the least of which is keeping his little yap shut and talking
to you with his kind eyes. My wife and I were immediately taken
with him. It was sort of pals at first sight.
But there was a problem. We don't do dogs anymore. We are gone
from home too much and you can shatter a dog emotionally by
leaving it alone.
There is also the matter of the three cats who would have a small
stroke if they had to share a home with a dog. The best part
about cats is that they aren't all that friendly. They enjoy your
company while you're around. But if you're gone for three days
and you leave out plenty of chow, so what? They enjoy a little
break from having you around the house.
Nonetheless, this was a great dog. Fortunately, our
daughter-in-law thought so, too. And she has no pets, except for
our son, of course. We nudged her a bit and she took the pooch
home.
So we have a new dog -- the best kind, the kind we can visit
without having to actually live with it.
It's virtually like having another grandchild, though one who
walks on all fours and occasionally refreshes himself from the
porcelain spring.
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