I have three Dogs.
Horatio is a Dogge De Boudeaux--That's a Bull Mastiff that's been bred a little differently over many generations in France.
(
Turner and Hootch)
The Nazis seriously considered eliminating the breed during WWII, Because a majority of the breeders were Jews.....
The Dogs were used to herd, to hunt, to guard--and as draft animals. If you Google it, there were many one and two dog wheeled carts used in France , Belgium and the Netherlands to pull small milk carts--or I suppose other products that a Butcher, Baker, whatever, might have wanted to deliver to a small group of customers.
I know about Dog sleds in the North, but that doesn't quite qualify as "Draft Work". Sled Dogs have to be capable of running for days on end. They should be relatively fuel efficient and they must be adapted to extreme cold.
There are no Dog Breeds that have been used as Draft Animals for Hundreds and thousands of years.
Think about a Thoroughbred or an Arabian Horse--not quite fair, because they are both very ectomorphic Horses at the other extreme--but the points still valid. Compare them to a Clydesdale or a Perchon--those are true Draft Horses--note: Big, Powerful and Big-Boned.
And they didn't come up with Draft Horses until sometime in the middle ages--which is why heavily armored mounted Warriors didn't appear till about the same time.
Anyway, Dogge De Bordeauxs are big, big boned Dogs. I think the standard says that a Male should weigh at least 145 Pounds.
Well Horatio is a bit on the puny side--and he suffers from indigestion. The Vet said to feed him Pepcid.
When he's on his feed, he weighs 105--maybe. When he's largely spitting up and fasting--95.
He is very intelligent, and very very visual. He takes note of visual phenomena that I've never seen another Dog pay the slightest attention to.
We had a Bulldog named Leo. He was fighting Cancer. He died almost a year to the day, after we got Horatio.
The next morning, my sister caught Horatio playing with his reflection in a mirror--so we got him a companion.
We'd never had a Bloodhound, and they were advertising them in the paper---so.....
Bloodhounds are okay Dogs--But they're Klingons--as my "Just-Misses-Being-a-Trekkie-by-a-Narrow-Margin" Sister puts it.
Or as the Vet said "They're kinda a Grumpy Breed of Dog."
Well Hermione Is a little Girl--a very little Girl. She has a Superiority Complex and she speaks like Delta Burke--dripping Magnolias and Spanish Moss.
My Sister and I aren't big on Neutering--never yet with a male--but we're both getting older, and she felt that we weren't up to chaperoning these two twice a year.
So Hermione got Spayed--and she's been putting on weight ever since.
She weighs well over 200 pounds, though we've got her on a diet since she started to have trouble walking.
Found a Vet that made house calls--that cost out the WaZOOoo!!!
Now Hermione takes Thyroid pills.
We just got a new puppy a couple weeks ago.
He's a Mushroom--You know, a little Fungi (Fun Guy).
He's half Jack Russel, and two neighborhood Dogs went to the Well--a Blue-Tic Hound and a Chihuahua. One little girl had some very obvious blue ticking--but she was already spoken for Two boys and a little girl had very obvious Chihuahua Round Skulls. We're hoping that Hagrid is half Blue-Tic.
Have you people ever inquired into your Dog's Politics?
One day, I was watching something about Joe McCarthy. His famous Question has an almost Poetic sound to it.
So I said to Horatio:
"Horatio, are you, or have you ever been a member of The Communist Party?"
Well he wouldn't look me in the eye, and when I asked him the second time, he hurriedly left the room.
Now I don't even have to pop the question. If he's misbehaving I say, "Do you want me to put The Question to you?" and he leaves the room.
Sometimes I wonder about him. He's always talking about how active he was in the Antiwar movement in the sixties--and name dropping.
He claims to have burnt his Draft Card. I tell him that he wasn't even born back then; That Dogs have never been subject to the Draft, and that he has no opposable thumbs.
He just changes the subject, he claims that he's the one who invented Bell Bottoms and Tie Die.
And don't get him started on the time he rode on the bus with Keysey and the Merry Pranksters.
Hermione doesn't say much, but whatever she sees on TV--Tyrannosaurus Rex, Velocorapters, Werewolves; Sasquatch; Blue Whales; Godzilla; Evil Insectile Fairies or the huge Black Holes in the center of Galaxies--and she'll look at me, and say, "I ate One of those Once."
When I pet her, she snarls and snaps at me, so I smack her--not quite as hard as I can.
So pretty soon we're having a fight me slapping, grabbing her ears, or thumping her nose. She snarls and snaps. We rarely quit till she draws blood at least once. Its fun.
I know she's playing, because once I broke off to talk to my sister, and Hermione kept pawing at me to play some more.
Also, If I do get bit, its usually due to a mistake on my part. I've deliberately given her wide open shots at my hand, and she ignores them. She's also becoming quite good at halting a bite so that It only bruises--which kinda takes some of the zest out.
Hagrid says that he was a fighter pilot in WWI; and he also had a fairly sucessful career as a Moto-Cross Rider, and toured with Evel Kneval--But you know how puppies let their imaginations run away with them.
I don't know where they come up with some of their material. I've never ridden a Motorcycle, and I'm not into history or canvas aeroplanes either.
I think they read--and maybe get on the Internet after I'm asleep.
I just hope that they don't run up a bunch of charges, or log onto any Porno-and/or Predator Sites.
What are y'all's Dogs into?
.....RVM45
