Went for a great walk the other day with the dogs. Every walk is a great walk, usually, but this one was super because I finally remembered the camera!
Harriet, at 16 years old, is very sad that I make her walk. I also don’t love her, nor does Lala, and neither of us ever feed her or rub her belly. Ever.
They make me walk on stones in the cold. Oh, my bones.
Or maybe she’s LYING:
She is very tall on the picnic table.
She might ignore me and the camera for a minute:
But she can’t ignore me forever.
That might be too much loving, really.
I would have taken more pictures of Clara, but really she’s just a blur. I caught this as she ran past, drool flying in wild strings from her jowls, racing after the next dog — always the next dog is the best dog, the only dog, the dog that will make all her games-of-tag dreams come true:
HI! HI! HI! BYE!
One moment is unnerving, though. I am busy throwing the ball for Clara, or talking to someone, not paying total attention. I walk on, then I hear someone say, "Hey, isn’t that your dog?" I look behind me to see Harriet flying down the walkway, along the water, going the wrong way. And you wouldn’t think it, but those little legs can get a move on when they want to. So I call her. And I call her louder. And then I remember that recently she’s gone pretty damn deaf, so I scream her name. People start to look at me.
Harriet is still running hell for leather away from me, obviously looking for me and Clara, and she’s about to round the turn where I’ll lose sight of her, so I start to step it up. I run, Clara leaping at my heels thinking it’s a great new game, and I’m yelling as loudly as I can "HARRIET!" while taking a brief second to explain to each person I zoom past "She’s sixteen, she’s deaf," because I feel somehow embarrassed that they’re watching me chase a dog who obviously doesn’t want to be caught.
Then the onlookers start to help, and there is a chorus of Harriets all around me. She finally hears all of us, and turns around, still far ahead of me. OH BOY THERE YOU ARE! She runs back to me, thrilled with her sleuthing skills.
I JUST TURNED AROUND AND YAY! HERE YOU ARE!
This is proof. Harriet, although low, can streak along at the sound of a fast-flying biscuit.
Dogs is good.
i officially love harriet.
Oh my god, I love Harriet so much. So. Much.
It took a chorus.
You do such a nice job of portraying the awesomeness of your animals. Sometimes other people’s pets are like other people’s kids – hard to see anything interesting and lovable in them.
Harriet, Who Is
aThe Cute Black DogFixed that for ya.
Awww! Great story, almost like being there, thanks for sharing it! Harriet is the most adorable black dog on the Internets. (I can say this because Dudley is black and white, so that’s totally different.) I love her little gray snout.
Wow, good story! It was pretty suspenseful, reading it; I’m all, “oh, man, I hope she comes back.” That’s really sweet how all those other people helped out!
OMIGAWD! THE DOGGIES AT THE DOG PARK! AWESOME HARRIET!!! DARLING CLARA!! heh – it takes a village….
So sweet. I know the deaf dog thing, that made me laugh out loud, I know it well. She is so cute, glad she can still run!
I got to meet our new neighbors and had to explain why I could NOT get my dog out from under their car while they were sitting in the driveway, engine running, waiting to leave. Running and yelling all the way over “Comet! COMET! Don’t run over my dog! COMETCOMETCOMET! Hi, my name is, nice to meet you, he’s old, he can’t hear. COMET! Sorry, he’s deaf. COMET!COMET!!”
heehee
Harriet reminds me, in both looks and personality, of my mom’s late lamented Jake, who was THE best dog in the world…
Aw, what a cutie Harriet is!! Sometimes I miss our dearly-departed little dachshunds . . . I wouldn’t trade my Boykin Spaniel for anything, but those cute little dachshunds…..
Oh, that last picture is just the precious-est!
HARRIET!!!!
HAAAAAAARIEEEEEEET!!!!
Dogs is good. Amen.
So are people who understand loving our old, deaf pookies and will yell Harriet. 🙂
i’m not even a dog person and you make me love Harriet with this story. Ok. must stop reading blogs and get back to calculus.
love that last shot. love harriet. love clara. love dogs.
isn’t it amazing how those with such short little legs can motor along soooo fast? i let my little one off leash at the beach once, and when her little 5 1/2 lb self spotted 3 chocolate labs coming her way, she BOLTED straight at them for a little play-time!
i love your pets 🙂
Yay Harriet for still getting out there and having a good time 🙂
Yup, dogs is good. I used to have a Bridget who looked just like Harriet. Clara is a cutie, too, with her smiley face.
Love your story…I love how you start with the “not loving” her tidbits. As our dog lays with her tummy exposed for a rub, I say “nobody loves you” to her and then smother her with kisses. My mom has a deaf dog named Lily and we all yell her name forgetting she is deaf. It’s easy to do. Harriet is wonderful!
Adorable dogs!! That looks like an awesome place for dog walks too.
dogs are the best! (forgive me cats, I like you too). Hey – what dog park is that? Looks awesome. I was in Oakland in December staying with my sis while going to AGU in San Francisco. We went to a dog park and I think it looked like that. Say hello if you ever see my sis and her dog: two twigs
I think you have just started the Harriet fan club. We’ll all leg wrestle for who gets to be the club president.
I agree with Gwen. Given how adorable Harriet undeniably is, and how Gatsby-esque is your description of Clara’s next-dog obsession… you win.
This story CRACKED ME UP! You really have a way with words. Harriet is a cutie, but my heart belongs to DIGIT.
Love those flapping ears in the last shot. And your pooches have to be the cutest on earth. Next to mine (though one just stole a skein of hemp so maybe yours are cuter).
What a cute story!! She just wanted to explore!! 🙂
Harriet = cutest little dog ever!
And this: “always the next dog is the best dog, the only dog, the dog that will make all her games-of-tag dreams come true”? You just described my almost-4-year-old daughter with other toddlers! I almost choked on my water!
Aw cute lil Harriet! That snack bar is awfully good at the dog park, maybe she wanted a toasted bagel?
Black and white dogs are the very best kind. And dogs is very, very good indeed.
Oh the nummas of it all
Oh yes, dogs IS good.
That last picture is killer.