A Tale of Two Dogs

A tale of two dogs.

So, I live in Sebastopol on a beautiful property owned by my family. There's 5 acres of Pinot Grapes and a nice sized backyard for our dogs- a Shiba Inu and a German Shorthair Pointer- to run around in. We all love it here; there's a beautiful view of the setting sun out of the West facing windows and Mt. St. Helena and the Sonoma Valley out of the North facing windows, a pool table and grand piano to entertain myself on and I am here by myself most of the time. I have thought about getting my own place but it's just too nice here and not knowing what is going to happen financially with my impending divorce it makes sense to stay here. And, for now, I gotta be here to take care of the dogs so it's all good. Besides, the stigma placed in this country on living with your folks is kinda' lame. Most other countries, when your folks are in their 70's it is expected that at least one of the children will live with them (as opposed to sticking 'em in a nursing home like most of us do in The States).

But, let me tell you about these two dogs; I love 'em to death and they are my most rusted companions and confidantes (esp. after my wife ditched me...). They couldn't be more different in personality and, considering their size difference, it's almost comical (there's a couple pictures of them in my pix file). The Shiba is named Suki and she only weighs about 22lbs. Zoey is the pointer and she weighs about 70lbs. Suki is quite aggressive and Zoey is the most passive lump of dog you will ever meet. To demonstrate this point let me tell you the story of the deer in the vineyard. Must've been about last July, before the harvest, when the vines were abundant with fat juicy Pinot grapes. Well, we had a bunch of deer coming in the vineyard and apparently they can eat their way through a large amount of grapes in a short time so my Dad told me to get the dogs to chase 'em out of the vineyard if I saw 'em in there. So, one day we went out and both the dogs sprinted down the Southern side of the vineyard like they always do. But, this time the Shiba froze in her tracks about half way down, turned her head and got really serious before she took off like a dart after something which I knew had to be a deer. She let out a couple of barks to alert her partner- the much faster (only in the long run, though, in a hundred yard dash the lightning quick Shiba is done before the Pointer even gets started), bigger Zoey who, basically, got scared and ran back to me and hid behind me. Suki, on the otherhand, chased the deer all the way to the bottom of the vineyard (thoroughly convinced, I'm sure, that she could take it down if she caught it) and out the deer jumped at the Northwest corner where the fence is low with Suki close on its heals. Now, the Pointer basically ran up to the gate to be let in because it was terrified by the all the action while the Shiba literally patrolled the perimeter of the vineyard searching for anymore trespassers into her territory. 'Course this same blind fearlessness also got Suki sprayed by a skunk a few months ago...

When out in the vineyard (or anywhere else) Zoey comes immediately when called but the Shiba pretty much refuses to come until the the 3rd call and your voice takes on that "If you don't come now yer gonna' get it," tone. In other words, the Shiba just wants to make sure you actually mean it. Zoey is very obedient but Suki is not (despite extensive training).

Yes, one very passive, one very aggressive. Now, Zoey wants nothing more than to be a lap dog her ideal of heaven is, basically, crawling up onto a person's lap while they are sitting on a couch. 'Course at 70lbs. this is