My Best Friend is Grey- Book Eight
Fog & Co.has a Weim Houseguest
Robin parle des Weims en France from Gail & Fog
Happy 150th B-Day Central Park w Gail & Fog
Leopold Joins the Bad Grey Dog Club
Funny story from the Weim board from Gail & Fog
Gail survives the NY Triathlon
Fog not an Actor, but he plays one in Real Life
CRIME SCENE-from Gail & Fog- not what you think
My Dog Loves Central Park Dog Fair-2003- Report from Gail & Fog
Baddest Dogs in Church-from Gail, Fog & Leopold
Subject: Fog dines on SOUL FOOD
Date: 3/29/03
Dear Friends,
Fog has recently expanded his gastronomical horizons! He has been having home made Soul food this week, courtesy of his personal chef, Aline. Aline has been watching a lot of black singer's biographies lately (she has discovered the wonderful video section at our local branch of the library), so we have been having Mahailia Jackson Tuesday, Shirley Bassey Wednesday, and Lena Horne Thursday. All that soulful music gave her a taste for some authentic food to go with it, so she's been in the kitchen, closely supervised by Fog, preparing some down home cookin'!!
Aline made collard greens cooked with hamhocks (you know Fog was almost in the pot with them when they were on the stove), macaroni and cheese and chitterlings. I'll be heading for the hills the next time she makes those chitterlings because they,..... well....er........are a bit "odiferous" shall we say? Aline thoughtfully saved the cooking water from the greens and hamhocks for him, so Fog has had a delicious, very nutritious, gelatinous broth served with his regular kibble. There was so much that he had it with all three meals that day, and when I came into the kitchen later in the day he followed me in, looked at the fridge and then at me, and BARKED to demand MORE!! WOW!! That was some good cookin"! He has also had some chitterlings and Aline kept the hamhocks and has made more broth for him to have with his lunch later in the week. Who would have thought he would move to New York City and have such fine Southern cooking'? Needless to say, he is even deeper in love with Aline, if that is even possible!
XO Gail & Fog
Subject: Fog & Co.has a Weim Houseguest
Date: 4/3/03
Dear Friends,
Everything is going even better than I expected here. Leo lay in front of the front door until midnight last night waiting for Christophe to come back. I put his blanket over him earlier, but I felt so bad for him, I took him by his collar and lured him with his blanket to come to his own bed. He was a little afraid to enter the livingroom because of Fog, but I walked slowly and he accepted my guidance. Fog slept on the sofabed with me and Leo slept on his own bed with his blanket, so the night passed uneventfully until 2am. Fog heard the night man cleaning the hall and barked twice. He is more attentive now that the pack is larger by one dog he has more members to protect. He quieted down and we all went back to sleep.
They woke up at 6 and Fog wanted to lie on Leo's bed with him, but Leo was scared, so he crawled under the sofabed. It is very "den-like" under there, so I let him stay there and reached my hand under to pet him to reassure him. Fog didn't want to lie on Leo's bed without him, so he came up on the sofabed with me where we all slept another hour.
Once I closed the sofabed there was Room to Play!! YAAAA!!!!!!! Time to wrestle each other and grab each other by the throat and throw each other on the floor. They had a great time doing that. It was funny to see Fog do that, because he typically starts his day like that with Shugg when he stays over. They got tired and both lay down on Leo's bed. That is when Leo discovered Fog's homemade bone that Sue brought him from their smoker. I thought that Fog was going to make a big fuss about that, but he allowed Leo to chew on it. This AMAZED me, because I was sure that would be the item he would be most possessive of. He watched with curiosity, but he didn't interfere with Leo.
There was some barking to get me to hurry out the door to the park, and a little struggling from both of them on their Haltis, but once they were free they ran and played like they do every day. I was afraid that Leo would still be upset and spend all his park time looking for Christophe, but with Fog chasing him, he had no time to think about that! Leo found a huge fallen branch that was about 15' long, with enough branches on it to be a small tree, and had fun dragging that around. It was still very green, so he spent some time peeling the bark off of it.
We headed home about 9:15am, and I fed Leo in Aline's room where he could have a chance to eat without Fog bothering him. He ate his breakfast, but would stop eating when I left the room. I went back in and sat with him for a minute, and he was fine and resumed eating. Then it was okay to leave him alone, he could hear me moving around in the apartment and went back to eating. He finished all his breakfast.
Leo spent most of the afternoon lying next to the front door, waiting for Christophe I think. I felt very bad for him, and tried to encourage him to come into the living room with Fog and me, but he didn't want to. Then after our afternoon walk, he felt like playing, and grabbed Fog by the neck and they wrestled for almost 3 hours. I was so happy! He and Fog were playing with the toys, grabbing at each other, and pawing each other. At one point they were both so tired they were lying the floor, but still trying to wrestle!
At dinner time we saw a guy on a bike that usually stops to talk with us. When Leo saw him, I could tell that he reminded him of Christophe, because he really responded to him.
Once Aline came home, there was a lot of excitement, and running about, and barking!! Someone else to add to the pack!! We spent the evening quietly, went for a little walk around the neighborhood, and more Big Time Wrestling on the carpet in the living room. Things are winding down now, as it is bedtime, but I think we have had a successful First Day.
XO Gail, Fog & Leopold
Subject: Robin Parle des Weims en France
Date: 7/8/03
Dear
Friends,
Our friend Robin just got back from a trip to Ireland, Switzerland, and a canal
cruise of France. Of course Robin had to visit every pet store along the
way in search of exotic foreign presents for Fog and Shugg. While in
France, she found a very chic giraffe print collar that she wanted to buy for
Fog. It was in a boutique where the owner had received zillions of awards
for dog grooming (It was FRANCE after all, land of the poodle
cut). His shop was decorated wall to wall with all the
ribbons he had won. Robin approached him and asked if the collar would fit
a Weimaraner. He said "Weimaraner, what is this? There is no
Weimaraner!" Robin's mother insisted and he said "How should I
know, it's YOUR dog." He was so snotty that he was fabulous.
Robin's mother was determined to get a straight answer from him, so she found a
breed book and went through every single page until she found a picture of a
Weim. They are called "Le Pointe Gris" (grey pointer) there.
When she showed him the picture, he shrugged and said the French equivalent of
"Why didn't you say so?"
So Fog is looking very handsome in his new collar.
To contrast, when they visited Ireland, where it is always cold and damp-the day
they were there it was 85!! They stayed in a little inn and when they got to
their room they couldn't find the air conditioner-Robin phoned the desk and
asked for "air conditioner" and they said they only had shampoo!!
( No HAIR conditioner!!!!) LOL!!! Robin's Mom said, "
I'M HOT, I want an air conditioner. I'M HOT!!" The concierge
said "You're hot? I'll be right up!!" (LOL!!!)
Once that was straightened out, and the staff realized that they wanted air
conditioner, they set up two beds in the conference room for Robin and her
Mom-it was the only room in the place that had air conditioning! Isn't
that sweet?
XO Gail & Fog
PS-We have started a collection of International Poop Bags-Robin brought us some
from Switzerland and France!
Subject:
Happy 150th Birthday, Central Park
Date:
7/20/03
Dear
Friends,
Yesterday was the celebration of Central Park's 150th Birthday. PAWS
organization hosted a Dog Parade, which we attended. My cousin and her
boyfriend were in town from Boston, they brought a friend of hers from
Mississippi who is a child psychiatrist who owns 2 therapy dogs (they work with
her child patients) and her little daughter, about 7. Aline also came
along, and my college friend Miss Carol.
I tore the house apart looking for Fog's Hawaiian print shirt, but I had no luck
finding it, so he had to be content to wear his red Dogwalk Against Cancer
bandana.
The doggies all met at Cherry Hill Fountain, where there was literature about
the park available, treat bags (gone by the time we arrived) and Krispy Kreme
doughnuts by the truckload for the humans.
We paraded down the hill and along the edge of the Lake to Bethesda Fountain,
the big one where Fog learned to swim. The entire Plaza was crammed with
people and I must say that I was very proud of Fog for being so well behaved in
the mass of people. It was really like walking thru a mine field, though,
because every single person was holding a free doughnut!!!!! We
desperately wanted to see the Birthday Cake that was made by Sylvia Weinstock,
who is a the grand diva of wedding cake makers here in New York, Some of
you may have see her on Martha Stewart or on some of the cooking shows talking
about cake decorating. She is famous for creating realistic flowers on the
cakes-she copies flowers by taking apart real flowers and studying the
individual petals!! Well, I was a bit disappointed in the cake-no
flowers!! It was a recreation of the Bethesda fountain, which is that
black metal with a dark green patina on it. It was a great copy, but not
pretty like I expected. We also couldn't see it well-it was penned off so
only photographers could get close to see it.
Fog himself got his picture taken by many visitors, and by a few local TV
stations.
We ascended the stairs to get a better look, and to buy some water and soda.
While we were standing on the landing having our beverages, Fog, of course,
picked on the gentle child psychiatrist and grabbed her doughnut right out of
her hand. I looked at him, expecting to see him chomping on it, but I
guess those Krispy Kremes are so light and airy that they don't require chewing,
just grab and swallow! So there he was, sitting motionless, looking a
little bored, like nothing had happened. Great poker face, Fog!! If
you didn't know him, it would have been hard to believe he had just mugged
someone!!
Before the cake was cut, there were 2 tenors from the Metropolitan Opera to sing
"Happy Birthday!" We didn't get any cake, they never did serve
it, but we did spend the rest of the day escorting the friends thru the Park and
telling all our Park trivia; I have amassed quite a bit at this point!! We
visited the highlights-the statue of Alice in Wonderland, the Boathouse, the
Observation Pool, the statue of Balto, and the zoo, and the newly renovated
Pond. By the time we got home we were all dragging!!
Fog's tail was between his legs even, he was too tired to hold it up!
Later my cousin called to say that the best part of the visit to New York for
her friend's daughter was meeting Fog!!
Happy Birthday from Central Park!!
XO Gail & Fog
Subject: Leopold joins the Bad Grey Dog Club
Date: 8/5/03
Dear Friends,
We have been baby-sitting Leopold since Thursday night while Christophe competes
in another Triathlon in California. Leo is 1 yr. and 9 months now and a
very energetic and funny little dog. The first night that Christophe left
him he spent the entire evening lying next to the front door waiting for Daddy
to come back and get him, crying. Fog went and lay down with him for a
while to keep him company, and Aline sat with him awhile. None of it made
any difference. I brought him to bed at midnight, but he woke up quite a
few times during the night whenever he heard a noise and would trot to the door
to listen for Christophe. It was very sad.
The following morning, though, he was bright and happy as sunshine. He went
swimming every day in the Lake with Fog, and is an excellent swimmer. Leo
also like to play in the water, and he invented a game in which he drops his
rubber ball into a deep muddy water puddle, then splashes in it looking for it.
He will stick his nose in the water, but not deep enough to get the ball.
So far, most of the time Fog has to get it for him. Fog will now put his
head under the muddy water almost to his ears!!!! There is a lot of
splashing and Leo slaps the water with his front feet. You can imagine how
dirty they get. Fog's face looks like he was dipped in chocolate.
Sunday morning we came across 2 little boys playing with a dodge ball.
Leopold dashed up to them and seized the ball and ran off. I called for
him to drop it and come, but he bit into the ball and turned it into a rubber
pancake. Christophe is going to be upset when he hears this!! The
Mom and boys were very nice about it, and I took their name and address so that
I can replace it. It was VERY embarrassing. So now Gail goes shopping at the toy
store!!!! And I thought Fog was bad!! (You would think I would be
used to it!)
After we have playtime in the park they have breakfast at home, and then there
is usually an impromptu wrestling match on the carpet in the living room.
Leopold has gotten good at pinning Fog by the neck with his front leg.
Leopold has a little trouble eating his meals, because he gets distracted and
wants to know if Fog is getting something better/different from him. One
lunchtime he refused to eat his food, so I gave him Fog's, and he has since
tried that ploy in an attempt to get something different to eat.
Leopold has also been whining NONSTOP!!!! It is so sad-he cries and cries
and makes little howling noises too. He does it any time you leave the
room and he cannot come with you-even if you just go to the bathroom!! He
cries if you are on the computer and he wants to sit on your lap. He
sounds so plaintive to me!!!!! Like a little sheep bleating. He has
been driving Aline crazy with the whining, and she has been calling him a
"pansy" and complaining about him. But then the other day I
noticed that he had a nice big rosy pink lipstick kiss right on his nose!!!
So you know who has been kissing and hugging Leopold to comfort him!!! And
I overheard her doing the high pitched baby talk too!!! That Aline is a
softie!!
Leo has also learned "Roll Over" and "Turn Right." We
didn't get to "Turn Left" yet!!
I am hoping that learning those new commands will redeem Leopold in his daddy's
eyes, because he did the Ultimate in Embarrassing Things this morning-he PEED on
a man in the park!!!!! It was a couple and their baby and 2 Jack Russells.
I was standing at a distance and I heard the group of them shouting. I
thought they were saying "He LEANED on me!!" so I went over and said
"That means he likes you" That was met with a round of laughter.
In fact he was saying "He PEED on me!!" When I realized that I
told him that Leo wasn't' my dog. The husband laughed and said "They
never are when they do something like that." There was more laughter
and everyone told him this was his initiation into the dog pack. I know
the wife and she has been very nice to me, so everyone had a good laugh at the
husband's expense. They cleaned him up as best we could with baby wipes.
Christophe is going to be pretty upset when he hears about these misdeeds, I can
just see him once he gets over the shock he is going to shake his head and say,
"Leopold, you break my heart!"
Welcome to the Bad Grey/Blue Dog Club, Leopold!!
XO Gail & Fog
Subject: Funny Story from the Weim Board
Date: 9/7/03
Here's a cute one
from the Weim Board
As most
of you all know my three year old granddaughter is living with me until her new
house is finished in Jan.
The other day was "project" day. She has a craft table and I
gave her paint brush and some blue poster paint (blue being her favorite color)
in a very tiny glass....I mean one tablespoon of paint.
Well, I took my eyes off of her for two minutes and I discovered she had painted
my glass coffee table and glass front door and about 20 minutes later...down the
hall walks Mick with blue paint on his face...eye brows, paws and blue nose.
She had gone into my bedroom and to his crate and decided he needed to be a blue
weim. It was really hard not to laugh but I had to reprimand her and
couldn't take a photo. I wish I could have but don't want to encourage
that behavior...but when I think about how Mick looked I have to burst out
laughing.
Hugs to all,
Nancy and the new blue pup Mick and Chance with the control top panty hose on.
Subject: Gail Survives the NY Triathlon
Date:9/10/03
Dear Friends,
Well, I made it!! I survived the NYC Triathlon!!!! WAHOOOO!!!!
New York City
Triathlon
We were scheduled to do an Olympic length Triathlon on Sunday, August 10th.
This is a 1500 yd swim, 25 mile bike and 10K run. I have been preparing
for the past 6 months, following a training schedule that Christophe sent me
from the Internet.
Beginner
Olympic
I haven't been following it religiously at all, but as it got closer to the race
date I began focusing on the swim part of the competition, since that is the
first part, and the one that I was the most fearful of. We would be
swimming in the Hudson River from 99th Street to 79th Street.
We
had to attend a mandatory orientation meeting on Friday, where the course was
reviewed and we received our race numbers and information about where and when
to bring our bikes the day before the race. To my disappointment, the water was
tested 2 days before the race, and found to be unfit for us to swim in. So
the race directors changed the swim to a 5 K run, 25 mile bike, 10 K run.
So it was really a duathlon. A lot of people were really upset about this,
and Christophe said that a duathlon is usually $30 to enter. (We had paid
$125)
My age group, females 45+, was scheduled to begin at 6:43AM. I had to
arrive early so that my bike could be looked over by a professional and they
could inflate the tires properly. Christophe advised me about this, in
addition to telling me to cover the seat of my bike in case it rained- I have
one of those springy seats and if it rained overnight I would be sitting on a
wet sponge for 25 miles!! He also told me to drink tons of water the day
before the race, that being properly hydrated was even more important than
eating well. And he told me the morning of the race to eat 2 Cliff bars
and a banana 2 hours before start time.
I also had to get what they call "body marking." They write your
race number on your left or right biceps and the Ultimate Indignity, your AGE on
the back of your left calf.!!!!! ACK!!!! I am convinced that they do
this in case you drown and your paper race number churns away in the current.
You also get a strap that goes around your ankle that has a computer chip in
it-when you pass thru the various checkpoints, it registers your time.
It's called a ChampionChip- (everything has a Heroic Athletic Name to it).
No one explains any of this stuff to you ahead of time, and it isn't really
mentioned on the websites either, it seems that it is taken for granted that you
already know these things. I would have been really lost if Christophe
hadn't guided me thru the process.
When it is time to start, everyone goes in smaller groups according to their
ages. There were around 2000 people participating-you should have seen the
physiques of some of the men and women!! Most of them looked like
professional athletes!!! Ooo La La!! My group went last. I am
not any kind of a runner, and I was also the 3rd fattest person there, so I ran
the first 3/10 of a mile and walked the rest. It was out on the freeway,
and though the traffic was closed, there was traffic on the other side of the
cement barricade. I had a headache from the car exhaust with in the first
15 minutes, but then it passed. The entire race route was marked with
orange traffic cones, which was good, because I fell so far behind almost
immediately that there was no one for me to follow-the next closest person in
front of me was a little dot on the horizon. And there was no one behind
me, except the truck that picks up the orange traffic cones.
I was so glad when it was time to get on my bike!! I had a little trouble
with the gears in the beginning, and because I was so far behind everyone else,
spectators thought that all the competitors had passed and were walking across
the race route in front of me, which was alarming!! The route went out to
the highway, across the George Washington Bridge up to the Bronx to Yonkers,
turn around and back. Again it was along the highway with the traffic
blocked off. After the first 15 minutes on the bike, all of my fingers
went numb except my pinky fingers. I was surprised and concerned about
that, especially since I had been to the acupuncturist 2 days before, and I had
an excruciating session with her to prepare. I cried thru most of it.
But soon I had an even more unexpected problem- I started to feel REALLY
nauseous going up the first slight incline. Thank goodness Christophe had
driven the bike route beforehand and told me that it was very flat-otherwise I
would not have been able to do it. As flat as it was, I had my bike in the
lowest gears and I was chugging along barely moving- I think I gave myself
motion sickness!!! It was REALLY bad!! But I thought that if I
stopped I'd never get started again. Once I got onto the flatter road, I
felt a lot better. This entire time, there were bikers returning from the
turnaround point and I could see them. I saw Christophe fly past in about
the 3rd group of bikers, and he called out to me. The entire rest of the
ride was very solitary, again because I was so far behind. It took me
about an hour to get to the turnaround. Buy then I was totally fantasizing
about drinking a very cold sweating icy Coke!!!!!! After the turnaround I
just couldn't go up one more incline, I had to get off my bike and walk with it
for a little way. Knowing I had passed the halfway mark of the bike made
it a bit easier-I had been wishing that there were mile markers so I would know
how many more miles to go. I wore my watch and I knew approximately how
many MPH I could go, so I had estimated that the ride would take me a minimum of
2 hours. A lot of people had flat tires and I saw them on their return
replacing their innertubes. One woman got taken away in an ambulance and
Christophe said afterwards that there was a 3 bicycle pile up when one guy was
going too fast and lost control of his bike and 2 others ended up on top of him.
He got taken away in an ambulance also. Christophe also said that when he
got to the turnaround it wasn't' clearly marked so he and the group of guys that
were following him missed it and had to go back. As I was finishing the
bike ride, there were 2 lanes of traffic at a standstill on the freeway off to
my right. One of the drivers asked me why the freeway was blocked.
When I told him it was for the NYC Triathlon, he said, "Oh, I hope you
win!!!" LOL!!!!! I think that was the most hilarious moment of
the day!
After I racked my bike I still had to run across 72nd street to Central Park and
do 3 laps of the lower loop of the park. I really wanted to go home, but I
knew that Fog and Aline would be waiting to see me. And Christophe said he
would finish and shower and come back and do the last part of the run with me.
The police still had all the barricades up and though I was the total slowpoke
bringing up the rear, at every single intersection they made ALL the traffic
stop so that I could shuffle across the street. That was pretty funny.
Aline couldn't find me, and Fog was getting antsy sitting and waiting, he was
becoming a handful, especially after he stole a bagel from a pregnant woman
(sigh), so Aline took him home. As I entered the park I was looking for
the soda and ice cream vendor-can you imagine? I wanted to do my final
laps with a Coke in one hand and an ice cream in the other!! Christophe
found me when I was about 3/4 way thru my second lap. He called Aline on
his cell phone and then he lost me in the crowd. I found Aline at lap 2
1/2 and she walked the rest of the way with me. By this time the Elite
racers has started, and the organizers had closed down the Finish Line for the
amateurs. As I approached the Finish Line, I didn't' know where to go, and
one of the organizers started to direct Aline and I as if we were just walking
in the park, telling us to get off the race course. I had to wave my race
number at him and scold him "I'm still racing, here!!!" I said.
LOL!! He reopened the gate and I got to amble across the Finish Line.
The spectators seem to get a big kick out of seeing the last one finish, because
they clapped. Christophe was thrilled. My total time was 5 hours 33
minutes 1 sec. I think everyone was a lot more excited about it than I
was- I just wanted to have a shower!!!!! All in all it was fun, but really
hard work!! Next time I will be thinner and better prepared!
XO Gail & Fog
PS Now Aline is calling me "IronWoman"
Subject: Fog is not an Actor, but he plays one in Real Life
Date: 9/25/03
Dear Friends,
This afternoon our friend Robin came to town with poodle Shugg and her mom,
Allison. Allison has worked as an actress all her life, she always played
the Neighbor in 60's sitcoms like Green Acres, or the woman mopping her floor
with Mr. Clean in commercials from that time period. She later appeared in "Nunsense" on Broadway, had a lounge act in Las Vegas, and has a
list of credits a mile long. She continues to perform professionally.
Anyway, we all went to lunch, Fog too, to an outdoor cafe where a lot of Old
Actors hang out.. Allison knows most of them. We sat down with our
lunch and the dogs were having a hard time behaving. One of Shugg's arch
enemies walked by, and Shugg went nuts, and Fog followed barking his head off.
No one was hurt, it was just noisy for a minute. One of the Old Actors
commented several times in a loud voice that "If people can't control a dog
they shouldn't have one." My blood was boiling because I hate that
sort of thing. I think if someone has a criticism, come and say it to my
face instead of hiding in a group where you can't tell who said what. We
ignored him and enjoyed our lunch. Fog barked a few times to let me know
that he expected a bit of chicken, but he was otherwise a good boy.
By the time we finished, the Loudmouth had left the group, after announcing that
he had an "important audition."
Then, Allison did the coolest thing. She went over to the remaining group
of Old Actors, and introduced herself. She knew one of them. Then
she said, "Please tell that f-ck of a curmudgeon that these two dogs are
animal actors. They are exhausted because they have been sitting all day
in auditions, and they need to let off a little steam. They actually earn
more money acting than I do!!!" Of course that is a total lie, but
Allison is such a convincing actress that group just sputtered at her, they
didn't know what to say to answer that!!! Heh, heh, heh!!! Allison,
you're the greatest!!!
XO Gail & Fog
Subject: CRIME SCENE-from Gail & Fog-not what you think
Date: 9/27/03
Dear Friends,
Okay, I know all of you see the phrase "crime scene" and see that the
posting is from me, and you are thinking that Fog has victimized another
innocent bagel-eater. This time it is different!!!
Remember 2 weeks ago when Fog woke me up at 6 AM to tell me that he had a
straight pin in his tail?? Well, the wound had closed, but now he keeps
getting happy and wagging that tail and banging it against the walls and
furniture, so he keeps opening the scab. This started while he was a
Christophe's last week. His wagging sprayed the walls of Christophe's
apartment with spatters of blood, and the whole place would look like a HOMICIDE
was
committed there, and Christophe would be washing walls. Christophe shaved
the fur off the tip of his tail so that he could get a good look at how serious
the wound was. It is only a small scratch with a scab on it the size of an
eraser on a pencil, but when he opens it, the amount of blood that gets thrown
around it startling!!
When Robin and Shugg arrived the other day, there was a major outburst of tail
wagging and my apartment walls were blood spattered too!! There were
spatters on every wall in the place, on the white woodwork and white doors and
even on the hallway mirror!! Fog gets the blood on himself too, so we are
a mess here!! I have put Quick-Stop on it and it seals up, but then he
wags and opens it again. If anyone comes over and he starts wagging again, it is
going to look like a serial killer lives here!! We have new neighbors
moving in next door- YIKES i hope they don't move in until Fog's tail heals
completely!!!
XO Gail & Fog
Subject:
My Dog Loves Central Park Dog Fair 2003
Date:
10/12/03
Dear
Friends,
The "My Dog Loves Central Park Dog Fair 2003" was last Saturday and I
am finally recovered enough to report! I worked on the Fair this year
distributing flyers, I passed them out day after day to anyone who had a
dog-I'd like to think that the turnout was better this year, but I don't' have
any statistics to back that up!
We had many of the same games and events. The live band, "Pet
Rock" made up of animal medical people entertained, and we had
representatives from several therapy dog organizations. This year Fog gave
the agility course a try-the jumps were a cinch, and so was the A frame, the
weave poles he preferred to just knock over and he thought that running thru the
tunnel was a little pointless when you could just as easily run around it.
I think I was more thrilled about the agility course than he was.
We actually LOST the My Dog Will Eat Anything Contest (I am so ashamed).
The Pickle was our downfall!! Fog will NOT eat pickles!! The other
foods were, cheese, melon, red pepper, carrot, grape, cherry tomato.
We had really good sponsors this year, so EVERYONE was walking around with a
free package of treats in their hand or pocket, so I spent most of the time Weim
Wrangling Fog. We met a 150lb Great Dane, and we would have loved to get a
picture of him and Fog together, but his owner said that he wasn't that
friendly.
They did microchipping and Canine Good Citizen Testing, but I didn't remember my
wallet, so I couldn't get Fog microchipped. I would like him to get his
CGC, but I didn't think he would stand a chance of passing in that environment
of over stimulation.
The funniest moment of the day for us was when I introduced Fog to Clifford the
Big Red Dog. I wanted to take Fog's picture with Clifford, but I thought
it would be good to introduce him to Clifford first, since in the past he has
barked furiously as some of those stuffed mascots. Fog approached Clifford
with his nose in the air, stretching stretching so that he could get a good
sniff of him. At the same time, Clifford bent over to pet Fog. Just
then Fog grabbed Clifford right by the nose and started to tug on him!! He
thought that Clifford was a big red stuffie!!! The person inside the
costume couldn't see what was happening, but luckily Fog let go when he saw that
he wasn't going to be able to shake Clifford like a stuffie!! Honestly, it
is impossible to predict what they are going to do!!
The following morning all the dogs were playing with their new toys-Fog got a
small Petco Frisbee. He stole his friend's party favor, which is the
funniest toy I have seen in a while. It was a regular sturdy yellow rubber
ball, about 2 1/2" diameter, with one of those talking mechanisms inside.
The novelty with this ball is that the phrases that it said were a little bit
"naughty"!! It spoke in first a man's and then a woman's
voice, and the conversation was something like this:
Man: I gotcha!!
Woman: Don't touch me there!!
Man: Tickle me!
Woman: I'm going to chase you!!
The tone of the voices is very flirtatious, and I had a lot of fun teasing the
woman that got the ball, because her dog had played with it all night the night
before and she hadn't noticed that the ball was saying such seductive things!!
So look for that one at your pet store-sorry I don't know the name!!
I only took a few pictures, because Fog was such a handful, but when I figure
out how to upload them from my digital camera, I'll post them!!
I made a lot of suggestions during the 2 weeks before the Fair, ideas for next
year. I knew that there was not enough time to implement any of them, but
because I made so many "creative" suggestions, I have been drafted as
"Special Events Coordinator" for next year!!! YIKES!!
Some of my ideas for next year:
1) Pet Psychic, dressed like Karnac w a big turban and cape, he/she
"reads" the dog's paw and tells the owner that the dog says that
the owner works too much, should buy the dog more toys and treats, isn't getting enough sex, etc comic stuff to have fun w the owners
2) Doggie Fashion show-Sweaters and Coats borrowed from local pet stores,
modeled by volunteer doggies
3) Get your picture taken w Clifford OR get your doggies picture
taken with his head thru a comical cutout (inspired by Stacey)
4) The K-9 Chef- dressed in a puffy white chef hat and long white apron,
the Chef distributes recipes for dog goodies you can make yourself
5) Meet a 4 Legged Hero- an opportunity to meet and learn about Search and
Rescue or Bomb sniffing dogs
6) The Link Librarian - (inspired by Halamos) An Internet Doggie
Authority-she has lists and lists of links
for every topic imaginable-from Pet supply catalogues to holistic vets.
7) The Groom Room- demos of how to properly dremel your dog's nails,
remove tar or chewing gum from his coat, tips on bathing, brushing teeth
etc.
So everyone be forewarned, anyone within a 300 mile radius of the Big Apple is
in danger of being drafted to participate next year!!
XO Gail & Fog
Subject: The Baddest Dogs in Church
Date: 10/15/03
Dear Friends,
This past weekend our friend Elyse invited us to go to church for the Blessing
of the Animals. I had Leopold with us for the weekend, and I thought it
would be fun for him and Fog.
We went to the park in the morning for an hour and a half so they would be tired
out and would behave in church-that was the strategy. The walk to church
took an hour-it was a small cathedral on 76th street on the West side. I
don't know what denomination they were-Universal something or others. They
had literature in the lobby that welcomed "gay, bisexual and transgendered"
worshipers! It was a small congregation and a 2PM service. The
pastor was a young black woman and she walked around greeting everyone before
the service began, while the pianist played animal songs, like "How much is
that doggy in the window?" and "Eensy, Weensy Spider" It
was a very mellow and friendly atmosphere.
Until I arrived with the Hounds from Hell.................
I took the boys to sit down, expecting them to be tired and want to rest.
No way!! Fog was really excited to be in a New Place and refused to sit
still. He was barking, demanding that we go exploring. Everyone
else's dog sat quietly. One guy brought a bird in a cage and there was
also a cat. I could only quiet Fog by walking with him and Leo up
and down the far wall of the church. Leopold could not be left behind in a
sit stay because his "don't leave me" howling would start. We
paced up and down the aisle for quite sometime. I tried to get them to sit
again, and this time they started to wrestle, crashing their chests together and
making the snarly face at each other and snapping their jaws at each other.
One of the ushers was alarmed and asked me if she should hold one of them; she
thought that they were having a dogfight. I broke that up and got them to
sit for about 30 seconds, as I tried to sing "All creatures great and
small" with the rest of the group. Fog took this opportunity to hump
Leopold. In church. I think that is homosexual fornication?
Leopold didn't bother to shake Fog off, so I had to drag him off and make him
sit. Then he started laughing at me-he was having a great time. I
finally thought I had him settled, and I turned to stagger to my seat from
exhaustion, as Fog hopped onto his back legs and wrapped his front legs around
my waist and began to hump ME!!! OH NO!!!!!!!! That is bestiality,
which is definitely wrong. Especially in church. I told this story
to Jena in chat last night and she suggested that both dogs need an exorcism!!
Just after I wrestled Fog to the ground and got him to lay still on his side,
the preacher asked us to bring all the pets to the altar for a prayer. I
was thinking that she'd better pray that I don't kill these two. Instead,
she asked God to protect our animal companions from danger, and from their own
curiosity. Afterwards, she came up to us and thanked us for coming to
service. Think she has a Weim? She really seemed to understand.
XO Gail & Fog & Leo
PS- Just a crazy New Yorker footnote- there was a woman there with a HAND PUPPET
that she said was her pet- she brought it to the preacher to bless! The
preacher didn't bat an eye!!!