Ramblings of a dog owner (non-pet people might want to come back another time)

[I'm not a cat or dog blogger, so I hope you'll cut me some slack this once to ramble on about some furry friends]

I firmly believe that anyone who makes fun of people for anthropomorphizing their pets has most likely never had one. 

It's inevitable that we talk to our furry friends as if they can really understand every word... and we assume that our animals possess a wide range of emotions, wisdom and even bravery that - let's be honest for a moment - probably are more correctly attributable to instincts and evolutionary memory.

But none of that matters to those of us who have chosen to share our homes and our lives with beloved pets.  We spoil them like children and revel in the seemingly limitless affection and devotion they show us in return.  Okay, with cats maybe some of the affection and devotion is wishful thinking on the part of the owner... but a purring cat on one's lap on a rainy evening is strong medicine for whatever ails you.

What set me down this train of thought is the fact that we have two wonderful dogs; Jordan and Lulu.  

Strangely, even though both dogs are of similar genetic composition (with the predominant ingredients in both being Labrador Retriever and German Shepherd), they could not be more different.  And in keeping with what I've written above, the way I am going to describe the differences between Jordan and Lulu will sound loony to anyone who has never shared their life with an animal.

At 12 years old (tfu tfu tfu), Jordan is the matriarch of the household.  A former companion dog to an elderly woman, we adopted her when she was already two years old.  In keeping with her former 'profession', she is calm, attentive, obedient and [seemingly] intensely aware of even the smallest ailment and complaint in her family.  She has the soft mouth of a Lab, but her spirit and keen intelligence is all shepherd.

Jordan's bedtime routine is to wait until the last person has left the living-room and then slowly make the rounds of all the bedrooms.  She will sometimes linger in the children's rooms until they have drifted off to sleep, but will eventually end up in our room, where she will only go to bed for the night once Zahava and I have gone to sleep.  The only exception to this routine is if someone is sick... in which case she will invariably stay by that person's side throughout the night.

Lulu, on the other hand, has the classic Labrador personality; happy-go-lucky, excited, enthusiastic, interested in everything and everyone and willing to eat anything and everything.  Our vet put it best when he said that Labradors are wonderful dogs, but they are the ADHD kids of the canine world.

Naturally, a lot of Lulu's excitability can be attributable to the fact that she is still essentially an adolescent.  Even though her body has pretty much reached full size, she is a very immature dog and will likely (hopefully) calm down and grow some common sense over the coming years.  But in keeping with my previous remarks, I look at her lovable enthusiasm alongside Jordan's calm wisdom, and can't help but compare and contrast the two.

And yes... I do play favorites.

Unlike with children, most dog training books advise owners to show preference for one animal over another.  In any household with more than one dog, one is always going to assume the Alfa role, and that one must be fed first and shown preferential treatment over the other(s) to avoid confusing (or even undermining) them. 

Since Jordan was an older adult when we brought Lulu home as a pup, Jordan has always assumed the Alfa role.  Lulu has almost always respected this difference in their status and shows the typical affectionate deference to Jordan when they are together.  Occasionally when they are play-fighting Lulu will over-step her bounds, but Jordan will always put her back in her place.  So following their lead, we feed Jordan first and give her a slightly bigger portion of any treats we divide between them.

But before you get the idea that Lulu is neglected, let me assure you that she is lavished with plenty of affection and attention.  It's just hard to take her too seriously, though, when she dances around excitedly and barks and dashes expectantly to the door even when someone sets a drink down on the wooden snack table too hard.  

And perhaps most comical is that we have trained her to sit patiently while we fill her dog bowl with food, and she will only eat when we tell her 'Good Girl' and motion to her bowl.  During these moments of suspense, she sits with long tendrils of drool coming from both sides of her mouth.  We joke that this is an effective way to check to make sure the floor is level.

I haven't posted any pictures of the dogs for ages, so in answer to the many requests, here are they are... along with the stars they most remind me of:

Jordan (along with Lassie and Rin-Tin-Tin):

     

... and Lulu (along with her Doppelgänger):