Scruffy The Legend

Of course, you know that Scruffy was a pack leader and had little time for what he considered mindless pursuits such as playing fetch. Charlie, on the other hand has no aspirations of pack leadership and loves to play ball. Ruby is a hound. She says hounds do not play ball – only retrievers do. Anyway, if you play the video, you will see that she eventually convinces Charlie that rolling in the grass on a particualrly good smelling spot ( I guess) is more fun than silly ball playing.

2009, 2009 April Charlie

I know you have all been waiting for the rematch between Charlie and Ruby (previous post). The previous bout ended in a draw. This time was different. Unfortunately there were boos and cries from the spectators that this second fight was fixed – that Charlie took a dive! You can see one of the disgtuntled spectators leaving before the end of the fight. That spectator missed the horrific end of the fight. Charlie rolled over and played dead! Charlie was fined by both the WBC and AKF 30 dog biscuits for unKeeshond-like behavior. This will really hit Charlie hard. His whole take from the fight was only one-half a dog biscuit. I am sure he will appeal.

2009 April Charlie, Ruby

This post written by the wife:

So every time we come home, we find that the items on the diningroom table have been moved. We weren’t sure which of the animals was the culprit – some of the items were too large for the cat to have moved.

Darryl decided to conduct an undercover investigation and see if the perpetrator would go back to the scene of the crime. He placed food on the center of the table, opened the window blinds and went outside. Looking through the window, he found that it took no more than one minute for Charlie to start circling the table. Charlie is a very athletic and acrobatic animal. He easily hopped on the table to snag the piece of bread left as bait.

Scoping out interesting looking items on the table

Score ! Dinner left overs.

2009, 2009 January Charlie

Hi Leo and Jade,

My name is Charlie.  I live in a small town in New Jersey, USA, about 20 miles west of New York city.  I was adopted about 2 months ago.  I used to live in Massachusetts and then in the Bronx, a part of New York City.  My new daddy told me about you, but only seemed to know that you were both Keeshonds living in Japan.  He reads your mom’s blog (http://keeleojay.blog64.fc2.com/ ) about you every day to me, but does not understand Japanese.  He has tried the automatic translators, but says they are of little help.  My daddy was also Scruffy’s daddy.  Ruby (my new Beagle sister) tells me that if you are Keeshonds, you probably heard of Scruffy.  I am not so sure.   I do know that we are all cousins since we are Keeshonds.  Ruby says she also wants to be our cousin.  Maybe we can let her be an honorary cousin, if that’s OK with you guys.  She does make a strange looking Keeshond – but nobody’s perfect.

Please tell me about yourselves.  Were you born in Japan?  Are there many Keeshonds in Japan? Do you live in Tokyo?  Do you live right in the city or a suburb? What season is it there now?  I ask a lot of questions – maybe  that’s enough for now.

We are just at the end of winter, it is getting warmer and the snow is gone.  We had snow on the ground all winter long and it was very cold.  I like the cold.  Snow is fun too.

I know you guys understand Japanese and probably not much English, so you will have to ask your mom to translate for you.

Your cousin,

Charlie

2009, 2009 February Charlie, Jade, Leo

A cat of course. Chicken is a feral kitten we adopted when he was a few weeks old. Karen named him Chicken because he was afraid of everyone and hid under beds (Just like Sir Prize used to do when we first got him). He was kept locked in our bedroom at all times when Ruby and Snowball arrived because we thought a Beagle would certainly hunt and kill a kitten. We were not sure about Snowball who was supposed to be a Bichon. We knew Narla also would not appreciate a kitten. After we returned Snowball to the shelter because he was fixated on killing Narla (see my post of coronation of a queen ), we gradually let Chicken out of the bedroom to begin interacting with Ruby and Narla.

It turned out that, unlike every other cat I have known, Chicken had no innate fear of dogs. He immediately fell in love with Ruby and spent much time hanging under her chin by clasping his paws around the back of her neck. Ruby did not seem pleased or displeased by this state of affairs. Maybe Chicken has a remora (those little fish that attach themselves under a shark’s mouth) in his remote ancestry. At first Ruby’s expression seemed to ask us to get this thing off her – not that it was doing her any harm – but what did she need it for? As time passed, the two became good friends and played together much as an adult dog and a puppy might play. Chicken would bite Ruby about the face and Ruby would retaliate with bites to Chicken’s neck and body. Considering that Ruby’s mouth was a big as the whole cat, I was very impressed and proud of Ruby for being able to do this without hurting the cat. We did become concerned that Chicken would eventually, by accident, scratch one of Ruby’s eyes. The play periods usually occurred several times a day and did get a bit rough on occasion. Although against our usual way of doing things, we had Chicken declawed to prevent injury to Ruby. For me, declawing a cat – even and indoor cat – just doesn’t sit well with me, but I felt we had to do it.

Now Chicken has grown into a very large cat. However without his claws, he is totally defenseless. Enter Charlie. Charlie is still not sure exactly what to make of Chicken. He is not exactly sure what is the difference between Chicken and a squirrel or between Chicken and a squeaky toy. I don’t really like the way Charlie looks at Chicken or the way he chases him. It is different from the way Ruby does these things, but thankfully also different from the way Snowball would have done these things. Charlie is not fixated on the cat and does not want to kill him. I am just not sure how rough his play will be once he really decides to play with Chicken. I am not sure he knows how to bite a cat playfully and softly the way Ruby does. Chicken notices the same things I do, and does not attempt to do anything like hang from Charlie’s face.

Chicken is cautious with Charlie, but still is unaware of any real danger. Chicken, again unlike other cats I have known, has no apparent innate ability to or desire to protect himself (with or without claws). He has never hissed, taken a strong swipe at someone, arched his back, or raised the hair on his back and tail. Even when Charlie is right over him, giving him a predator’s stare, Chicken only playfully extends a paw onto the dog’s nose.

2009, 2009 February cat, Charlie, Chicken, Ruby

POINT Charlie

COUNTERPOINT Ruby

Charlie:
When Darryl calls, you come immediately, no matter what you are doing.

Ruby:
When Darryl calls you evaluate the situation. Does he have a treat in his hand or not? If not, then it is appropriate to consider what you are doing at the moment. Chewing a rawhide strip, certainly means you are not going to run to Darryl.

Charlie:
When Darryl asks for your paw, you give it immediately.

Ruby:
You only do tricks if treats are being offered

Charlie:
When Darryl goes upstairs, you follow immediately.

Ruby:
When Darryl goes upstairs, you wait a few minutes. He usually comes right down again. If after a few minutes, he is still upstairs, then he may be waiting for you to jump on a bed with him or he might even have a treat, so then you go.

Charlie:
A rawhide chew strip is not the world’s most important thing. Darryl can take it away from you and you should give no reaction.

Ruby:
A rawhide strip is the most important thing in the world. If Darryl tries to take it away from you, you bite him hard (OK, I admit I haven’t done this lately, but I still give him that stare that makes him ask me in a nice way to give it up).

Ruby:
I wouldn’t talk if I were you, buddy – You bit Darryl’s daughter on the leg when she came to visit yesterday.

Charlie:
I only bit her when she was ready to leave. She probably thinks it was because I wanted her to stay longer – So what’s the problem?

2009, 2009 February Charlie, Ruby

He is still new; he is still learning. He is under the coffee table. His eyes follow me, staring at me, as I enter the living room. He is waiting to see where I will sit. As soon as that is clear, he runs over and sits facing me, staring up into my eyes. He is asking if there is anything I would like him to do. He is telling me that he is my faithful servant and will do anything I request. He becomes a little fidgety because I have not yet asked for anything. His eyes are intense; his ears are alert. He offers some suggestions. “Perhaps you would like me to give you my paw or roll over.” I make a small motion with my right hand. He is immediately on my lap licking my face. When I get up he jumps enthusiastically to the floor ready to follow me wherever I may go. I am on my way to the kitchen. He is right behind me. I stop suddenly and look back at him. I was going to ask if it was really necessary that he follow me every time I get up. He detects something in my movement or maybe my eyes. He immediately rolls over on his back, paws folded above his chest. He is asking if there is anything he might have done wrong, not only just now, but at any time. He is saying “I am so sorry if I have done anything wrong, but I can not change the past – so here I am looking up at you – do what you will with me. I am at your mercy” I immediately tell him he is the most wonderful dog in the world and that he should indeed continue follow me wherever I may go. When I now go upstairs to do some minor thing, I do not look back at the dog on my heels. I know he is there and will always be.

2009 January Charlie

Those of you who have read my book, may recall that I always lamented the fact that, because of a shared driveway on one side of the property, I could not fence my yard. This had always meant that Scruffy (and his predecessor, Major) had to always be on a tether of some sort. There is a whole subchapter in the book (Freedom Day) devoted to describing Scruffy’s first day of total free running in a large field at my daughter’s farm. I must have grown much more intelligent recently. After adopting Ruby, I realized that my whole yard did not have to be fenced. Why not just make a dog run by fencing one area of the yard? So we did this for Ruby. I think its maybe 30’ by 40’. I keep wondering why I never thought of this in the days of Major and of Scruffy. Ruby and Charlie love this yard and run around chasing each other in amazingly fast circles. The back house door exits into this yard, so the dogs can now be let out without having to take them out first on a leash. If you look at the previous post’s pictures, you will see the dogs playing in the yard. The young man in the picture is Jeremy. He is now 23 years old. He was about 13 in the picture in the book (seated with Scruffy and The Kitty in front of a Christmas tree). I know those of you who haven’t read the book (yet) assumed that the man in the yard was a picture of me. No, look at the old man with Scruffy on his lap on the back cover picture of the book, mentally add 10 years to it and that might be what I look like.

Some of you may notice that this is the first post to this blog that I am writing. All previous posts were written by Karen, writing in the third person to make it seem like it was me talking.

2009 January Charlie

There was a little snow today and Ruby and Charlie had a great time chasing each other around the yard. Ruby especially enjoyed rolling over in the snow and having her belly scratched.

Charlie would drop down in “play position” next to Ruby and bark. She would then start running across the yard with Charlie in hot pursuit. Ruby would turn and catch Charlie by grabbing hold of the long fur on his tail with her teeth.

2009 January Charlie, Ruby, Snow

Charlie and Nikki riding home

Our friend Margaret’s Keeshond KeeKee passed away the other month. She was determined to rescue another Keeshond and searched the web for a dog needing a home. She found an ad for 2 Keeshonden looking for a new home. She had room in home for one Keeshond, not two. She called my wife, Karen, to see if we would like to adopt the other dog.

Karen and Margaret, along with Margaret’s husband Dave, drove to the Bronx to meet the dogs, Nikki and Charlie. Margaret called the owners to let them know they were on their way. She told Margaret they would go pick the dogs up from their parents’ house, where they had been living because their new baby was allergic to the dogs. They sat waiting in Dave’s van in front of the house. Every time a car drove up, Margaret excitedly looked to see if there were Keeshonden heads poking up from the back seat.

While waiting, the girls pooled the money the owners had requested for the dogs. The owners had purchased the dogs from a breeder and asked for a small amount of money for the dogs. My wife, being a bit of a scatter-brain, thought she had placed the money in her wallet. Looking in her wallet, Karen found only $40, not the $100 she was expecting to find. Between Margaret and Dave, they dug up the additional $60 needed for Charlie. Between the 3 of them, they had exactly $100.

The dogs were beautiful and obviously well cared for. The girls put the dogs into the van. The dogs thoroughly explored the back of the van, smelling Stu and Tyler, who had ridden in the van only the day before.

Dave drove back to New Jersey, crossing the G.W. Bridge and headed on to the Turnpike. As they took the ticket for the toll from the machine, Karen asked if anyone had the money to pay the toll for Exit 14. Their wasn’t a dollar bill among the 3 of them. Margaret and Karen searched on the floor and in the ashtrays of the van for coins. They found $1.35, just enough to cover the toll for the first exit, which they promptly took. Fortunately, they found themselves on Route 3 and they located a cash machine just a short drive down the road.

When they got to Karen’s house, they took Charlie and Nikki out of the van. Margaret and Dave each took a Keeshond and walked down the street with them. Karen went into the house to get Ruby. The idea being, Ruby would think it was a chance meeting of dogs and it would give her the opportunity to meet Charlie on neutral territory. As the dogs approached each other on the side walk, there was only curiosity. Karen took Charlie’s leash from Dave and walked both dogs together to the backyard. She released them in the enclosed part of the yard. They sniffed each other, but for the most part, just ignored each other. It looked like Charlie would be a very smooth addition to the family.

2009 January Charlie, Keeshond