Journal Entry
Pet blogging
June 28th 2006 at 4:03 pm
We went to the Humane Society a couple days ago, and this fellow seemed to not mind the mad barking and chaos, so we took him out and played with him a bit. I like laid back as a doggy trait.
He’s a husky/chocolate lab mix, though he looks all lab in this pic. Looking at the size of his paws I imagine he’ll be quite a freaking large dog, which is what we wanted. We checked for Rottweiler, Pincer, or Shepherd dogs in the area, as I wanted a dog we could put a spiked collar on and call ‘Killer.’ I love our Collie, but everyone looks at her and just goes ‘it’s Lassie’ and runs over to pet her.
This is nice, but I guess I’m not as automatically interested in having people lunging into my dog’s personal space without checking with us first. And also, I’m in the middle of walking, I don’t want to stop for every yahoo that says ‘look it’s Lassie’ and starts petting the dog.
Thankfully our dog is a total attention hound and loves it. But it’d be nice to have a big dog that everyone says first ‘is it friendly?’ This lab will do, the more dangerous looking breeds at the pound were pretty darn snarly, and we already have older rescue pets with their own various nuerosis, it’ll be nice having a puppy clear of doggie psychological issues. He’s a good compromise, I think.
While we were in NY my editor Paul Stevens made the observation that in New York ‘friendliness is optional.’ In other words, many strangers were nice about helping us get on the right subway, or find a restaurant we were looking for, but no one went out of their way to be fake sugary sweet about it, or felt obliged to have to answer us or chat with us at length. I can dig that. I’d like my dog walking to be ‘friendly optional,’ maybe this dog will pull that off.
We’re calling the lab puppy Fenrir, the dog that eats the sun in Ragnorak, the end times.
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1. Mary Robinette Kowal on Jun 28th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
You’ll have to wait till he’s grown for the ‘friendly optional’ dog walks. Right now he’s such a cutey.
2. Greg van Eekhout on Jun 28th, 2006 at 6:13 pm
Oh, damn, that is one sweet-looking puppy.
3. Kristine Smith on Jun 28th, 2006 at 8:20 pm
He’s sooo cute.
I have two lab mixes, and folks give King, the bigger guy, a very wide berth. He has shepherd coloring mixed in with his black lab, and folks see the brindle with the black and assume he’s a Rottie mix.
If he’s anything like my guyz, Fenrir will eat part of the sun and bury the rest, preferably under a favorite flowering shrub. Then jump on you with muddy paws.
4. Catherine Shaffer on Jun 28th, 2006 at 8:30 pm
Awww..I’m afraid I find labs universally inviting, but I always observe good dog ettiquette and ask before making friends, even if it’s a tiny dog. The exception is if it looks like the dog is very very eager to meet me and the owners are not making a lot of effort to stop him.
No one ever pets my dog without asking permission. She’s very intimidating. The darnedest thing, though, is that everyone adores her, too. She’s a total kid magnet (actually, kids sometimes do pet without asking, but most of them know enough to ask). She is a 100 pound English Mastiff. (aka, she’s very petite for her breed) She’s also made it to 10.5 years in great health, so now I’m a big fan of the “teacup mastiff” dog for its superior longevity. Nala is an awesome guard dog. Here in Ann Arbor, we have a significant population of New York transplants, and the atmosphere is a strange mix of midwest “nice” and “friendly optional.” I find it fairly comfortable.
Congrats on the puppy! May God give you patience for all the shoes you are about to have chewed up.
5. Lisa Mantchev on Jun 29th, 2006 at 12:51 am
We’ve had two Huskies (one still with us) and my mom had a lab/Husky cross. The copious amounts of hair he sheds will fill in any holes he digs, I promise. *G* What a sweetheart.
6. Emma on Jun 29th, 2006 at 1:36 am
Fenrir?
GLORIOUS NAME FOR A DOG.
7. Steve Buchheit on Jun 29th, 2006 at 6:52 am
Cool name for a dog. Hopefully he’ll grow into it. Of course, now you need to practice saying, “Is he friendly? Well, he hasn’t bit anybody I didn’t want him to for weeks now, so I think he’s over that.” ‘Cause you need to say it with a straight face or they won’t believe you.
8. Mark Terry on Jun 29th, 2006 at 8:10 am
I’ve got a chocolate lab-mix named Frodo, otherwise dubbed “the office manager.” Like most supervisors, he’s superfluous and spends his time sleeping on the couch, in a chair or on the futon in my office, or, lately, he’s too damned lazy to get out of bed and after his morning walk returns there. Luckily, unlike most of my previous supervisors, he doesn’t feel the need for “line of sight supervision.” As long as he’s well-stocked in Iams, water and regular w-a-l-k’s, he feels I can do my job without him nagging me.
9. Oliver Dale on Jun 29th, 2006 at 8:50 pm
I’m with Emma. That is the coolest damn name for a dog.
10. Emily on Jul 16th, 2006 at 7:45 am
I want an idea of what to expect from the husky in him and you’re the first site that came up when I searched for lab/”husky mix traits”! Funny!