Goin' To The Dogs

[robb_k]

Yes, they become family members and are toddlers forever. I have only had very small toy dogs. I rehomed several retired champion papillons for my breeder over more than 30 years. They were very docile and sweet. Ralph called them "froo froo" dogs.

One of ours, havanese Angel, responds to dogs on TV. There seem to be more and more commercials with dogs. She will rush up to the TV and bark at them. I haven't noticed a music preference.

Papillons!!! Butterfly dogs??? Were they named that because they have gigantic ears that flop downward all the way to the ground??? Our poodle [[in the '50s and 60s), used to bark back at dogs on TV. He liked to show off his singing, to Humans. He loved attention. He was neurotic. The other dogs in the neighbourhood even the much bigger ones, ran away from him, because they thought he was crazy. He growled at them for no reason. But he was a coward, who wouldn't hurt a flea. But he caught a blackbird and killed it and was starting to eat it when we saw what he was doing. The bird must have been sick or lame, or he couldn't have caught. But I've read that poodles were bred to be hunting dogs.

I used to love to run our huskie and malamuts on the snow-covered fields in winter. They loved that more than anything. And we had 4 & 1/2 to 5 months of snow on the ground in Manitoba. Those thick-haired arctic dogs suffered a lot in the sweltering humid summer heat, back before people had air conditioning. Back during the '40s and '50s the only buildings that were air conditioned were movie houses. And we couldn't take dogs in there. The poodle slept on my bed when he was young. He woke up with the sun, and would scratch at my door to let him out to urinate. I hated having to get up at dawn before 6:00. He brought fleas into my bed. It was terrible. I'll never forget the itchiness that never stopped till we got rid of them.