My Best Friend is Grey
My Best Friend is Grey- Book Two
Fog gives Steve the Dog sitter a nervous Breakdown for Christmas
Fog hopping fences, trespasses in Central park
Fog weighs in at Federal Express
For Stella-the Funniest Dogs story I’ve heard in awhile
Fog saves Gail from the Killer Coleus
Update on Gift coconut from Susan and Kesha
Subject:
Fog gives Steve the Dog sitter a nervous Breakdown for Christmas
Subject:
Fog Finds ANOTHER ONE
1/11/2001
Dear Friends,
Well, he's done it again and I'm just as baffled as I was the first time it
happened. We were out in Central Park this week and Fog started prancing
around and wagging his tail back and forth with happiness. He had found
something and was doing the Happy Dance with it in his mouth. At first I
thought it was a dirty old softball, but to my amazement, it was ANOTHER
COCONUT!!!!
I'm not sure how many of you remember that Fog found one in the Park a few
months ago. This dumbfounds me. WHERE ARE THEY COMING FROM?
Thank goodness Robin and Shugg the Poodle were there as witnesses, otherwise I
would have thought I was hallucinating!
XOXO Gail & Fog
PS- There are no coconuts to be found anywhere in New York at this time
of year!!
Subject:
Fog and Ms Thimble are back
2/21/2001
Dear
Friends,
We have been lurking around in the background for a few weeks now, but haven't
been posting. My dad has been very sick. Some of you know that he
has Parkinson's disease, like Michael J. Fox. My dad's Parkinson's got so
bad last fall that he was unable to swallow, so in October he had a feeding tube
put into his stomach and has been receiving food that way since then. We
knew then that it would only be a matter of time. Mid January he was
transferred to the hospital because he was having difficulty breathing. He died
February 5 of pneumonia. It was very sad, but his quality of life has been
so low that I think it was a blessing. At least he is at rest now.
Fog has been a great comfort, you know what comedians our Weims are. Just
now he saw me crying and so he grabbed a pillow off the bed and started tossing
it around to "kill" it.
I also must tell you all that he found a THIRD coconut. He found it 6 days
after the last one. I didn't post it because I though no one would believe
me. I have 2 human witnesses and 2 canine witnesses. He found it
under a tree near the Carousel in Central Park. Also under the tree were:
a bunch of grapes, 6 green apples and a small cupcake. VERY STRANGE!!!!!
No one i knew had an explanation for this. Because he found it at the
beginning of our walk, every one we passed asked me why I had given Fog a
coconut!!
XO Gail & Fog
Subject:
Fog Meets Pork in Park
2/21/2001
Last
week as we were exiting Central Park, we met a most interesting "dog".
She was wearing a pink neon harness and leash and a flowered lei around her
neck. She was pink and had wiry white hair and a curly tail. Boy did
Fog think she was fascinating. Of course, she wasn't a dog at all; she was
a pig that was
here in New York to be on the David Letterman Show!! (Stupid pet tricks),
I'm afraid she was awfully ugly, even as pigs go. Fog was a little
afraid of her. He would approach her, and when she made a soft grunting
sound, he would back off and perk up his ears, and tip his head. I didn't
let him get too close, because I was afraid he would figure out that she was
where ham sandwiches came from and go after her. She totally ignored him.
This was almost as exciting as when Fog met the camel at the Cathedral of St.
John the Divine. He barked his head off then, thinking that he could get
the camel to run so that he could chase it.
Has anyone else introduced his or her Weim to any exotic animal friends???
XO Gail & Fog
Subject: Fog hopping fences, trespasses in Central park
3/17/2001
Dear
Friends,
Well, I knew it wouldn't be long before Fog found a new way to get into trouble.
He loves to jump the fences in Central Park, especially at breakneck speed.
He is guaranteed to earn an audience of gasping onlookers, which he loves.
Most of the fences are about 4 1/2 feet high, and he can clear them easily.
Fog even does the "helicopter jump" where he stands right next to the
fence and jumps straight up, and somehow makes it over.
All this fence jumping is okay, with the exception of hopping the 6 foot fence
around the Sheep's Meadow. It's a huge lawn that is for people ONLY.
A big FAT $100 fine for any doggy trespassing. We have walked past the
Sheep's Meadow thousands of times and Fog has never shown any interest in going
over, until last week. He jumped over by hopping onto a park bench,
then onto the back of the park bench, and then over the 6' fence. BOY was
he a Happy Guy to be running around like a Tasmania Devil in there, where no Dog
has gone before- It was Space the final frontier. Of course, there are no
benches on the other side of the fence, and therefore no way for him to get out.
The fence is heavy chain link, not flexible so I couldn't bend it at the gate to
get him out. In the meantime, Fog was chasing around in circles, thrilled
to pieces.
As I was standing there sweating this one out, two ladies came along with their
teeny dogs and volunteered to go get the Park ranger to unlock the gate.
How embarrassing. And these sweet ladies thought that Fog was scared to be
in the Meadow by himself! (He was overcome with joy!) The Ranger
came rolling up in his official cart, and wanted to know how the Grey Criminal
had gotten in there. When I told him, he said that he had gotten lots of
little dogs out of there, because they squeeze under the fence, but that
Fog was the first Big Dog. Why is Fog always the First to be Bad????
The ranger let us off with a laugh- thank goodness no $100 ticket- although I
have been advised by devious dog owner friends that if you get caught that you
should give the police your worst enemy's name and address instead of your own- see
why this is such a cut- throat town!!
XO the Delinquents Gail & Fog
Subject:
Fog weighs in at Federal Express
Hi
Everyone!
Well Fog was on a diet starting Jan 2000; he was up to 100 lbs, 27" tall.
The Amazing Dr. Z, our vet, advised that he was too fat, especially because
he has hip dysplasia, and said that he should lose 15-20 lbs. I switched
him to Innova Senior (less calories) and gave him green beans to fill the
Bottomless Pit, and he also had grapes for treats instead of those prepared hi
fat goodies. But how to measure our progress? I tried to get him on
the bathroom scale but he wasn't having any of it. Grrr!!!!!!
Shugg the Poodle's owner, our friend Robin, came to the rescue. She is a
frequent customer at the Federal Express office that is 3 blocks from my apt.
She told us about the Orange Haired Girl that works there that is crazy about
dogs. The OHG keeps a box of dog biscuits behind the counter and treats
any dog that comes in with their owner. Shugg is madly n love with her and
can tell just by walking past the place whether or not she is working.
Anyway, Robin said that I should ask the Orange Haired Girl to weigh Fog
on her counter scale. I lacked the nerve to do it, but luckily Robin has
no inhibitions at all. So I self-consciously followed her into FedEx with
Fog in tow and she made our request. I think the Orange Haired Girl didn't
know what to say, and before you know it, Fog had scrambled up onto her
stainless steel counter scale, attempting to climb OVER the counter to get at
her
box of biscuits. It was quite a scene. And the whole time Robin is
chatting away like she does this every day of her life, saying, "Oh, you
know you are so good to do this, because it's very important that he lose
weight. You are so very nice to help him like this." She's a
charmer!! So this is how we know that Fog weighed 86 lbs. in August 2000.
The unhappy footnote to the story is that he got weighed last Thursday and is up
to 107 lbs!!!! OH NO!!!! HOLY MACKEREL!!! How did
that happen???? So we are both back on Weight Watchers. Wish us
luck!!!
XO Gail & Fog, the Hungriest Dog in the World
Subject:
For Stella-the Funniest Dogs story I’ve heard in awhile
7/22/2001
Dear
Friends,
Okay, I'm going to try to tickle Stella's funnybone ONE MORE TIME so that we can
get our baby! I heard this one from my friend Paul, about his dog Dennis.
Dennis is a big boy, about 85 lbs like Fog, a shorthair mixed breed and one of
Fog's bad boy cronies.
Paul had Dennis off leash at Bethesda fountain in Central Park, where everyone
goes to play in the fountain. The dogs chase each other and have a great
time.
Dennis, a famous food thief, spotted a child on the other side of the
Plaza, holding a hot dog with all the fixins. As Dennis stalked towards
his target, the kid saw that big bad boy and got scared, so the kid threw
the hot dog right at him, hitting Dennis right in the center of the
forehead!! The wiener and bun bounced off his head, but Dennis' head and
ears were covered with sauerkraut and mustard (New York style). After he
scarfed down the dog and bun, Dennis stood there, delighted at his good fortune,
trying to figure out how to eat sauerkraut and mustard off of his own head.
In the meantime, the kid's neurotic mother went crazy hollering at Paul, saying,
"You're gonna buy my kid a new hot dog!! YOU are gonna buy MY
KID a NEW HOT DOG!!!" which annoyed Paul, who is a good natured Brooklyn
boy.
So just to have a little fun with her, Paul says, "Whaddaya talkin about
Lady? Your kid threw food at my dog! You tell your kid to clean up
my dog!"
Of course Paul really is a gem and he did buy the kid another hot dog.
I think that Dennis should be named an honorary Weim for that one.
XO Gail & Fog
Subject:
Fog saves Gail from the Killer Coleus
7/19/2001
Dear
Friends,
I had a little extra time today so I went down to the floral district where you
can buy all sorts of plants wholesale. I bought myself a few mini ivy, an
Irish moss and a very tall, colorful coleus plant.
When I got home I put the coleus in the open window and sat down at the computer
to answer my email. Fog was lying near the window, dozing. It was a
beautiful breezy day today, but a gust of wind blew thru the window and toppled
the coleus to the wood floor.
The racket lurched Fog out of semi-conciousness and he jumped to his feet
barking. Then he attacked the coleus, grabbing it by the root ball and
shaking his head furiously. Earth and leaves were flung in all directions.
The coleus must have struggled to escape, because Fog bought it across the room
to the front of my desk, thrashing it roughly the entire time, sending black
potting soil flying everywhere. Fog dropped the defeated plant on the
antique rug, victorious.
XO Gail & Fog
PS Why do I bother to put away the vacuum?
Subject:
Update on Gift coconut from Susan and Kesha
8/19/2001
Hi
girls,
Just a real quick note to let you know that we had a wonderful memorable time
when you came to visit. All of our friends are so jealous that we got to
hang out with a bonfide guide puppy in training.
I wish that you could see Fog with the coconut you brought for him. Fog
has been working on it for days and can't get it cracked. It must
be just the exact size that he can get it into his mouth, but not get a good
bite on it. I drained the milk out of it, but it is proving very
challenging. for him. Being the stubborn Weim that he is, he hasn't given
up, and his new strategy is to LICK it. He is trying to ERODE the shell
away!!!!! Fog has even taken to sleeping with the coconut. He threw it on
the wood floor a few times today, but he didn't stick with that plan long enough
to get results. (I'm sure my downstairs neighbor was grateful for that.)
He has brought it to me a few times, which I interpreted to mean that he wanted
me to help him with it, but when I reach for it he starts to play tug, so I
guess he doesn't want help, he just wants to show it to me. (He does that
with things that he is proud of!)
Bon Voyage!
XO Gail & Fog