to be obvious, the dog is skinny.... but not as skinny, they say, as when he first arrived. then he was very skinny... and scared, they say.

of course he was scared... moving into a house with these two humans who thought they would be good caretakers of this skinny scared dog.

i could have told him he had nothing to worry about. these people know how to take care... of dogs... kids... people in general... situations... they are good caretakers. i could have told him that... but he wouldn't have understood. words don't matter much to dogs, you know.

this dog had been rescued... that's what they call it... rescued from its first year or years in a cage.... two years of enforced immobility? for this dog that was obviously born to run... he had to be rescued. correct me if i'm wrong, but i remember the story going something like this: the cruel owners brought a sick dog to the vet, who understood the dog's situation. so the vet told the cruel owners that the dog was too sick to cure and would have to be put down. the vet then fixed the dog and passed him on to the rescue squad.

the dog is an italian greyhound.

the dog is not hairless, but it is about as close to hairless as a hairy dog can get... yet you would never want to call this a hairy dog... he had less hair when he arrived, they say.

this is the dog most likely to become a cat. he curls up on the laps of certain people. he sleeps 20 hours a day... or thereabouts. but when he's awake he runs. he grabs his old squeaky raccoon or his new squeaky turtle and zips around the place... just about never slamming into the walls or posts the way you or i or some little kid or some larger dog would if we ran that fast in the small space.

this dog won't wrestle with you or me the way some big old golden retriever would... this dog won't let you pet him as quickly as other dogs do, but he's a friendly enough dog in time. and this also reminds us of a cat.

the dog has been named duke. a grandfather had a dog long long ago named duke. that duke was a big old spaniel. this duke isn't the big old floppy eared, face-licking thing that this other one probably was. this duke is elegant, a true aristocrat... as you may note by the way he carefully crosses his paws...

certain people wondered why i had posted no dog pictures. i had thought that if the dignity of certain humans might be sullied by such vulgar displays, then certainly the honor of this noble beast might also be compromised. but i have been assured that such is not the case... we shall see.

click on this portrait for more duke

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
Mark Twain

talk to me

brtom.org