Nick And Rudy; Rudy And Nick.
Mood:  cool
Topic: Basenji
My two dogs, after this first month, are settling in together and becoming pals. Nicky is two years old and Rudy is now five months old, and since Nicky is neutered and Rudy isn't sexually mature yet, the male dominance issues are kept to a low roar. (Meaning that Nicky pees on Rudy's crate absolutely every chance he gets, and Rudy is better housebroken as a puppy than Nicky will ever be.) They roughhouse together like a couple of pups, all through the downstairs.

It's fun to be with them. This evening I took them for a walk, and was feeling especially proud because NIcky had been to the groomer today and was looking sleek and glossy rather than shaggy with his beard in dreadlocks. Bear in mind that the Upper Newport Bay is a place where people flock to take their walks; not just from the surrounding neighborhoods, they drive in from all over the county and even all over the country, as it's also a world-class birding area. We're like Waterfowl 'R' Us, y'all. I can tell you by his cry when a great blue heron is flying overhead even if it's too dusk for me to spot him. Because of Orange County's ridiculously balmy weather, birds from all over use the Back Bay as their wintering grounds, and we get some pretty awesome visitors as well as the usual suspects.

So what I'm saying is that we run into a whole lot of people on our walks. And here I am walking along with the following dogs:

(a) One crazed black miniature schnauzer who is snarling and leaping because he is trying to play tug-of-war with his own leash as I attempt to walk him along, a feat which he achieves by looping the leash around his own paw to make it "attack" him; and

(b) One calm, poised, regal basenji. The basenji, as you may know, is the breed depicted in those examples of ancient Egyptian art, those dogs who stand upright yet are not named Goofy. There is absolutely nothing goofy about a basenji; it's a word that Nicky wears like a crown, but Rudy has never heard and never will. He is a Pharaoh among dogs, and he knows it.

So that's an interesting bit of contrast there. They both really are quite striking examples of their respective breeds; the black mini schnauzer is much less common than the grey sort. Rudy is the typical red and white basenji, but both his parents and three of his four grandparents are AKC champions. Some microscopic flaw kept him out of show dog life, but I'll be damned if I can see a flaw in him.

As I walk by with my two charges, people will very frequently smile and comment My, you have your hands full. Which is a comment we often hear when we are out with the three kids and not even a dog in sight.

So I grin and wave and think Believe me, YOU HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA.