The animals I work with
Today's entry comes from my colleague Sandy Gerety. Sandy owns two dogs that together weigh less than a real dog's foot.
Just kidding. Carmen and Desi are real dogs, albeit tiny ones. And like other owners of small dogs, Sandy likes to dress them up in fancy clothes, although in this picture, they're dressed casually in T-shirts.
That's Carmen on the right.
Here's what Sandy has to say about it:
Desilu is 2 1/2 and still very puppy-like in her behavior. Carmen is an older, wiser 4-year-old.
Desi only understands words that describe food, e.g., snack, treat, cookie, dinner. Everything else - like sit or stay - she more or less plays dumb. Carmen is a little diva who likes to sit in your lap and is a shameless flirt when around men.
Sometimes Desi wants Carmen to play, but Carmen wants to watch Clean House reruns, so Desi has come up with a little trick that works every time. She goes over to the toy box, retrieves one of their favorite toys and then parades back and forth in front of her until she engages her in a tug of war over the toy. This tells me one thing - I guess she's not as dumb as she would like me to think she is.
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About the Bloggers
Daily Breeze reporter Donna Littlejohn has shared her homes with a succession of wonderful, funny, and occasionally difficult canines -- Muffin, Fritz, Ellie, Mercy, Pilgrim and now Cowboy, an Australian shepherd-border collie, and Tess, a border collie. From strong-willed terriers to weirdly obsessed Australian shepherds, they've invaded her world with boundless energy, wet noses, muddy paws and soggy tennis balls. But they've really brought so much more than that -- like laughter and joy, some unexpected life lessons, and more than a few tears along the way.
E-mail Donna at donna.littlejohn@dailybreeze.com.
Josh Grossberg grew up with the usual array of animals: goldfish, dogs, hamsters, parakeets and turtles. He now owns the loudest dog in the South Bay(Video: Rocket the Dog) and is the least popular person on his block. He spends his free time in dog parks, pet shops and always has an extra plastic bag in his pocket just in case. He also has a cat.
E-mail Josh at josh.grossberg@dailybreeze.com.
I hope Sandy is never attacked again by any viscious animal... and I hope Carmen and Sandy OK and recovering well.
The next time Sandy is off work for days, Josh will be happy to write her calendars!
Write Josh!
I enjoyed this story. Animals are like family. In my case, the animals are sometimes better than some of my family!
Next time Sandy is attacked by a vicious animal and is off work for days, I'm going to make you write all her calendars as punishment for that last comment.
It turns out I was mistaken about the incident.
Sandy informs me that the psychotic cat actually bit her, not just left scratches. The injuries and infections were so bad, Sandy nearly lost her leg.
But it's not like she doesn't have two of them.
You're right Toni. It was neglectful of me not to tell the story of how Sandy bravely fought off an angry pussycat.
Actually it sounds funny, but it was pretty serious. I don't remember the details, but a cat was harassing Sandy's dogs, which, as you know, are rather small. Sandy intervened and the cat climbed up her leg, leaving some pretty nasty cuts along the way.
Sandy needed some medical attention, including antibiotics. Who knew cats could be so dangerous?
I can't believe you didn't mention how Sandy risked her life to save Carmen from being eaten by a vicious neighbor cat. That was some serious drama in the newsroom for a few days. I've never heard of a cat attack that bad.