Tag Archives: Dogs

Riding the S.L.U.S. and things that make dogs happy.

Posted on by Before I Had Kids
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On a sock-damp, soggy grey day in December, I somehow found myself riding on the South Lake Union line of the Seattle Streetcar, and thinking about what makes dogs happy.

 

Our Newfoundland dog Rosie whom we love dearly.

 

Actually I was thinking about getting a burger from Skillet 2, but I’m not going to go on and on about my lunch here; that’s what Twitter is for.

The locals call it the South Lake Union Trolley.

That’s not really its name but they call it that so they can make “I’m riding the S.L.U.T.” jokes and laugh and laugh.

Just kidding – people in Seattle don’t laugh. There are actually several King County bylaws prohibiting it.

So I’m riding the S.L.U.S. hard toward downtown Seattle, deciding what amazing new food I should have for lunch (but not smile about – smiling, while not expressly prohibited in Seattle, is also discouraged), and wondering about human and canine happiness.

Rosie The Newfoundland dog with the kids

Humans are generally very stupid when it comes to their own happiness. The things that make us happy and the things we think will make us happy are usually completely different.

For example, lottery winners, Porsche 911 Turbo owners and husbands of Swedish lingerie models do not tend to have a higher level of happiness than the rest of us ordinary folk.

NOTE: In the interest of science I would be willing to personally research the validity of those three claims first-hand.

Dogs, on the other hand, are pretty straightforward in terms of what makes them happy.

 Stuff that makes my newf happy.

I think I can learn a lot about happiness from Rosie.

But more importantly, in the meantime, I can scratch her behind the ears, thump her on the back, tell her nice doggie things in a nice doggie voice and make a dark, damp day a whole lot better for the both of us.

And we’re both pretty happy about that.

 

Rosie the newf and my daughter looking at the Seattle sky

 

 

- carey

Kids Overboard!

Posted on by Before I Had Kids
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In our seemingly unending spirit of adding unnecessary complication to our already-complicated lives, we have adopted an adult Newfoundland dog.

She is absolutely a lovely creature, at least on the scale of creatures who poop on my hardwood floors.

Newfoundlands are very cool dogs. Loyal, loving, exceptional with children, gentle, lazy, incredibly powerful swimmers given they were bred for water rescue and have saved hundreds or thousands of lives (including that of Napoleon who was once swept overboard and rescued by a Newfoundland).

And here we see that water rescue instinct in action.

This is Rosie, keeping a watchful eye, on red alert, “protecting” our kids from the impending peril of the water . . . in our bathtub:

Newfoundland Dog Protecting Kids in Water

Bulletproof Baby Toy Business Idea, Part One

Posted on by Before I Had Kids
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Before I had kids, I had a dog named Huxley.

My Dog, Huxley

Having a puppy is actually quite a bit like having a baby. Suddenly you find yourself catering to another creature’s whims 24/7, you’re getting up in the middle of the night to take care of the thing, and you’re now cleaning up after bodily functions LIKE ALL THE EFFING TIME.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not exactly the same thing – our daughter really never took to rawhide chews or clicker training like our dog did – but there are some similarities.

One of the key similarities is that these little creatures demand your attention CONSTANTLY.

So naturally we find ways to try to keep our puppies and kids entertained for a little while occasionally so that Mommy and Daddy can have a civilized conversation maybe in the bathroom with the door locked with this bottle of wine . . .

So to facilitate this tiny bit of grownup time with our puppy, we discovered this beautiful invention called the Kong.

Doggy Kong

A Kong is an indestructible hollow rubber thing that you fill with treats for your puppy to dig out.

And I mean, if you’re an experienced Kong user, you JAM that thing. You pack that thing so tightly it’s like you’re just daring that little puppy to try get those treats out of there. You pack those treats in there like a Wal-Mart chocolate aisle the day before Valentine’s.

The point is that the dog will carry off this Kong full of awesome goodness like he just won the doggy lottery and spend the next 25 minutes frantically licking and biting and clawing trying to extract every tiny little morsel out of that little rubber fountain of life.

It’s pretty disgusting to watch, actually.

But that’s the whole point – you don’t watch it! You throw that little heaven-sent rubber knob as far as you can into the yard, shut the door behind the lumbering oaf chasing after it (and the dog, too), and savour the half hour or so of grownup time it provides you. 

It works really well. But the thing is, babies demand even more of your attention than dogs do, and that phase lasts longer with them, too.

So really, as a society what are we waiting for?

Two words:

Baby Kong!!

Now if you’ll excuse me I’ll be right back – I have some patent applications to file . . .