weimeraner at dawn

weimeraner at dawn
Originally uploaded by mygothlaundry

M's sister R is visiting from Baltimore with Spud, the Wonder Weimeraner. Spud is a Large Dog and I must say, it's fascinating how adding 80 odd pounds of canine to a small house that already contains roughly 100 pounds of dog can sort of fill up all the available space. So far, the dogs are getting along fine, although Django wants Spud to play continuously like Mojo does when he comes over and Spud, who is a grownup, not a kid like Django and Mojo, just isn't all that into it. So occasionally he gets fed up and snaps at Django, which makes Django yelp in horror, which in turn makes Theo look up from his couch and say, "Do. Not. Fuck. With. My. Brother." That makes everyone nervous since Theo, as we all, canine and human, know, is not 100% there. He can't help it - he's just a little creepy, Jim Morrison reincarnated, longhaired freaky neurotic needy collie dog - so it had never occurred to me before that he might get protective of Django's feelings. I would have thought he'd be more likely to respond with cruel laughter and a complete refusal to take sides. Then, even at the park, there's the problem with his social skills: Theo likes to play by making snarling noises while wagging his tail and jumping from side to side (I told you he was strange) which confuses all dogs utterly (except Django, who's used to it) and tends to make them slink away. Sort of the same way humans slink away when confronted with that guy on the bus who wants to talk about the imminent alien invasion. It's hard when your dog is that guy.

Young M has bronchitis - hopefully it's just bronchitis - and has to take antibiotics. He's still coughing and still refusing to do anything that might remotely be construed as taking care of himself, such as sleeping more, drinking more water or staying home wrapped in blankets. A is sniffling and coughing all over not only my home computer but my work computer (she swears she's fine, though) and so I'm getting all hypochondriac again. It used to be I had to read a list of symptoms before I developed them but lately, I swear, all I have to do is see them or hear about them and hey presto, I have six different kinds of flu and a nasty stomach bug that's going around Portland, Oregon. Not that any of them are all that bad, and not that they don't miraculously disappear usually when I get home and have a beer, but still, I think I need to adjust this paradigm.

M will be here tonight, hurrah! Let's hope the weather's nice tomorrow so we can take all these dogs for a nice long hike and tire them out.