A Dog's Life

Posted by Russ Devan (New Hanover, United States) on 25 February 2008 in Animal & Insect and Portfolio.

This is our labrador retriever puppy, Nala, enjoying her sunspot that she found on the kitchen floor next to her crate. I saw her laying there quietly as I was making a cup of tea on Sunday afternoon. Being the fidgety person that I am sometimes while I'm waiting for something, I decided that I didn't have a recent picture of her, so I shot this while waiting for the water to boil on the stove. I know some of the highlights are blown out on this image, but Nala was uncooperative after she saw me take the first image and moved her head out of the sunspot. (just like a kid!) When I tried to reposition her back into the sunspot to reshoot, she insisted on playing. I wanted to avoid nose prints and tongue slobber on my lens, so I just went with this one shot.

For me, the lab is the best breed there is. They're great with kids, happy, friendly, laid-back, eager to please, love the outdoors, and are very, very loyal. Nala is our second lab, with our old buddy, Shadow, who was a black lab, being our first. It's amazing that even within the same breed, the two dogs have completely different personalities. Shadow had very strong retrieving instincts (there was no training involved, he just brought back whatever you threw, whether you wanted it back or not), very cautious, scared of things that made loud noises (like the vacuum cleaner and the squeeky ironing board), rarely barked, and he couldn't get enough attention no matter how much you petted him. When my sons were younger and into minor league baseball, I would bring Shadow along for batting practice in the backyard. He played two positions with equal enthusiasm: catcher and outfielder. I don't remember ever having to chase a ball that my kids missed or hit. I only had to keep a rag by the pitcher's mound for when Shadow brought the ball back to me.

Nala, by contrast, will retrieve when she feels like it (I guess I will have to work with her on developing that skill). Both dogs absolutely love water. Additionally, Nala is much bolder (possibly because she's still a pup). Nothing seems to scare her and she will bark at unfamiliar noises and unfamiliar objects. Once at night, she insisted that my son's sleeping bag that was airing out on the deck after a camping trip was an intruder and kept barking at it and wouldn't back off. I had to take her onto the deck to show her that it wasn't anything to worry about. The same is true every week when the trash can is set out at the curb at night for pickup the next morning. She insists it's an intruder and I have to walk her to the curb to show her it's really nothing. While she also enjoys the attention we all lavish on her, she does get her fill of being petted and will walk away after a minute or two (unless she's trying to convince us to play with her). She also insists on licking off the dirty dishes in the dishwasher as we load them (she is what I call the "pre-wash cycle"). Shadow had no interest in doing that (probably because he knew he was banned from the kitchen while there was food out, and we're more lenient about that with Nala).

Today, Nala is exactly six months old, so it's time to start talking to our vet about getting her snipped. I love puppies, but only one at a time.

Thanks for stopping by.

"The Master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both."
- Zen Buddhist Text

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