So will mine, if he ever finds out about it.
When Tralfaz came to live with us not quite five months ago, he was a fuzzy little fellow, twenty pounds of boisterous puppy. The girl next door fell madly in love. He parents had had a bad experience with an angry little mutt once and were unwilling to get a dog. Never mind -- she didn't want just any dog. "I want him!" she said. She patiently---even heroically---endured his nipping and jumping. As for Tralfaz, he fell for her like a sack of fire hydrants. Every time we went to the yard, night or day, that dog would gaze longingly at the house next door, pining, mooning, hoping his girlfriend would appear.
Well, things have changed.
Tralfaz has put on fifty pounds since then, all muscle and bone and fuzz; he was always destined to be a big boy. His daddy weighs 120 or so. It's unbelievable how fast our dog grew. You feel like you could see it happen before your eyes. I'm amazed there's anything left of his food to poop; he seems to convert it all into dog as quickly as he eats it.
So all of a sudden he is heavier than the girl, and if you get him up on his hind legs, taller too. While the nipping and jumping and mouthing has toned down, he is still a puppy---a great, big, huge puppy---so we have not been able to train the behavior out of him entirely. When he gets excited, his brain is like an Etch A Sketch---bonk!---everything gone.
Now she's scared of him. And I don't blame her.
So the great romance is over.
She'll look at him sadly from behind the fence. He'll moon in her direction once in a while. But for the most part he's gotten distracted with all the many people out there to love and jump on. Yesterday she got out of the car and wouldn't even turn her face his way. If he could understand why she won't come see him anymore, he'd be brokenhearted.
Ah, Tralfaz! Ah, humanity!
No comments:
Post a Comment