March 25, 2003

• So, I have three writing assignments (because I’m not going to write about sex, because that would be too depressing). Family pets, happy memories from childhood, and experiences with large bears.
  
  I can sort-of combine the pets and the bears ones, because I really want to get a dog. And the kind of dog I want to get is an Akita, which has a very bear-like face. And they were bred to use in hunting bears in Japan. Here’s a picture of an exceptional 10-month-old prize-winning Akita. Click it to go to the breeder’s web site.
  
  
  
  I want an Akita, but they’re big dogs. They can conceivably live as companions to nomadic apartment-dwellers, but it just wouldn’t be right, I don’t think. So perhaps some smaller breed. Or maybe I need to move to a ranch.
  
  One of the things I like about Akitas is that they don’t bark much. When they bark, they mean it. They’ll defend without warning, too. Don’t mess around with the Akita. But they’re loyal beyond belief, exceptionally intelligent, and kind and sweet to the trusted few. Kind of like me.
  
  In the happy memories from childhood department, I remember opening the window of my room and calling the dog, and she’d come and put her paws up on the window sill, and I could pet her.
  
  Her name was Sam. She was part pointer, and as my mom would say, part fence-jumper. She had more than a little Rotweiller, I think. She was mostly black with the brown patterns you’d see on a Rotti.
  
  She never minded. She’d pull you on the leash. But she was a pretty good noise maker when strange people came around (or when chasing squirrels).
  
  In fact, the story is that some burglars were caught in our neighborhood, after a sort of mini-crime spree. As these things go in affluent suburbs… Regardless, they had a map of all the houses. Ones with dogs were marked with a big red X. So it’s likely that we didn’t get robbed because of Sam.
  
  And then, of course, there’s Weird, who’s as big as a bear. In fact, he looks a bit like a cat version of an Akita.
  
  

  • 9:18 pm
  • 3 Comments