Backyard to the Universe: Dawgs

On December 28, 2001, The three of us Dawgs living with Helen and Dick were thinking about families, especially during the holiday times, how Mahler has one family and other people come to visit him, and how we -- Tess and Don -- have two families, our 'real' family and the one here with Mahler for a while. It occurred to us to tell our families that we miss them. Mahler thought that it might be nice for us to write notes about our lives to let you know how we are doing. Of course, we need to have Helen's help, because our paws are not designed for using a computer, and we cannot read or write. We are trusting her to correctly relay to you what we are telling her. Now, September 1, 2008, we have decided to go public with some of our thoughts. So these are now being placed on Helen’s web site. Maybe our thought will help people understand their pets better. If you want the full version, you can contact Helen.

Mahler: Golden Retriever, November 16, 1999, Lives with Helen and Dick, and sometimes Erik or Krista in Litchfield, Maine

Tess: Staffordshire Terrier (Pit Bull), December 31, 1999, Came to live with Helen and Dick in September 2001 because her family could not have animals in their apartment. They moved and she rejoined them in June 2007.

Donovan: German Shepherd/Golden Retriever, January 1, 1998 Lives with Krista for various periods, with extended time with Helen and Dick, and continually since October 2006.

Lady (previously called Chow): Pointer/black lab mix (?), January 1998 (?). Helen met her and her daughter while walking dogs at the animal shelter and she came to live with the family in September 2008. (Jenny, previously Mein, Lady’s daughter, was with us for a month before going to her new home.)

Bear (black, short hair) 1994, Patches (yellow and gray, long hair) and Shadow (gray, long hair) 2001—came to live with Helen, Dick with Tess in 2001, and stayed. Patches went to live with Erik in February 2008.

Maggie (gray and yellow tabby, short hair) 2001, and Morgan (darker gray, black tabby with some white, short hair) 2004 —lived with Krista, and came to live with Dick and Helen in October 2006.

Kira about 1997—cockatiel, lived with Krista, came to Litchfield with Maggie and Morgan October 2006

Helen and Dick—Live in Litchfield, Maine. Both are ‘retired’ now, meaning that their schedules fluctuate with their interests. The Dawg Notes usually originate from their home.

Krista and Erik—adult children of Helen and Dick. Have lived back home at various times. Currently, Erik lives in the family home in Ocean Park, and Krista is in Litchfield.

December 28, 2001

You know all of the animals here right now. But catz are so different from us Dawgs. We wrestle, and have chases and tugs with socks, and make lots of noise in the process. Catz just hiss at each other, arch their backs -- they really look funny when they get all fussed up. But we Dawgs know better than to get too close when they are fussed up -- they use their claws, which are shaped differently than ours and hurt more. And speaking of catz, Maggie is the biggest cat that we've seen. Maybe that's why she thinks of herself as a Dawg. She is very sociable rubs noses with us. We don't think that she has been around a dog the size of Tess, 'cause she seems to enjoy being able to just reach up and bat Tess's ear. But then, Tess isn't used to having a cat around that is half her size and whose head is up to her shoulder.

Going to bed is another whole process. Mahler was never allowed on the bed, but I, Don, changed that last year when I came to visit. And Tess reinforced our -- the Dawg's -- right to share people's beds. See, that is the advantage to having different family experiences: we bring our own experiences and educate each other. Think of it, Mahler would never have known the softness of the bed if it hadn't been for us!