Lambiedog

Over the river and through the woods, or, A difficult visit

We took a trip to Ojai to visit our relatives.  Below is a picture of me with some of them.

From my perspective, the evening was problematic.

From my hosts' perspective, I was not the easiest guest. 

What threw me was the presence of their puppy, Annie.  Annie did a lot of swiping at me with her paw to try to engage me in play.  Each time that paw came toward me I got nervous and snapped.

It got to the point where, as depicted in the photo at left, I growled when Annie even looked at me.

    Things went downhill from there.  I was not my finest self.

    I began begging to be picked up.  The more anxious I got, the less safe I felt anywhere but in my owner's lap.   

  
I made it through a reading of Peter in Blueberry Land, but when my owner put me down so she could play with the young master of the house, I freaked out.

 It was time to go home.  I was not proud of my performance, but I was relieved that it was over.

Something's happening here

There's something happening here.

What it is isn't exactly clear.

Stop, now, what's that sound

Everybody look what's going down.

Something good this way comes

     

Anatomy of an interaction

    My interactions with other dogs can be broken down into three parts:

(1)  Approach:

                                  (2)  Involvement (typically brief): 

                                                                            (3)  Withdrawal:

 

 

 

 

 

The knowledge that there will be a Part 3 is what helps me make it through Parts 1 and 2.  

Magic pose

Nearly a decade ago, Jamie Lee Curtis posed for an amazing photo spread in More magazine.  The spread showed Jamie Lee first in her plain-Jane skivvies, then looking glamorous after thirteen assistants had worked for three hours on makeup, lighting, and wardrobe.  

 

Here we have a similar set of photos.  On the left:  Me and Magic looking glamorous. Below, the back story: raw footage of our preparation for the photo shoot.   

The article accompanying the More photos quotes Jamie Lee as saying, "I’m trying really hard to take the veil off the fraud, to be real, to start with me."  

That's what I'm trying to do as well.  I don't want people to see photos of perfect Lambie and be discouraged thinking that my photogeneity is effortless and unattainable.

Professor Moriarty

People frequently say admiring things about my prodigious intellect.  What they may not realize is that the gray matter packed tightly into my petite brain cavity is not always used to positive effect.

To wit, a recent series of diabolical poops I have been making indoors, with absolutely no justification since the doggie door is literally within sight of my chosen spot.

I am a complex dog.  Underestimate me at your peril.

A boost on the uphill leg

    Teresa's husband, Roger, and daughter, Janise, came along on the Secret Stairs Franklin Park East walk.

    Roger turns out to be a softie who picked me up and carried me along up the hill behind my owner, who didn't even notice or think to question how I was doing such a good job keeping up.

    On the downhills, however, he left me to my own devices.

    In the course of the walk we encountered a ferret.  I myself have never seen the appeal of ferrets.  Just another rodent, I would say.  However, Janise and Teresa were quite enamored of this ferret that we met.

    
    Janise was very careful to make sure I got lots of attention too, so I didn't feel jealous of the ferret, just incredulous that anyone could ever find it cute.

Vote for Thomas' remix!

    While Thomas recuperates from his surgery, he has been working on a remix in a contest on Indaba Music. 

    Having listened to this song, 'Just Can't Let You Go,' by the teen pop star Manika, easily five hundred times as Thomas perfected his remix, I can fully recommend his final version as the one that should win. 

    To do that, however, he needs votes.  Come on, Lambie-lovers, stand with me -- let's make our preferences known! 

    You can listen to Thomas' remix below -- it's #1, the one by "The Menstrels" (T's nom de plume).  (#2 is the original, 'pre'-remix version.)

    Then, after it's knocked your socks off, please vote for it.  The catch is that to vote you need either a MySpace account or an Indaba account.  Both are free.  Within my own demographic [dogs, natch!] there are not many of us who have MySpace accounts, let alone Indaba accounts.  However, I joined MySpace today so that I could vote for Thomas.  I felt it was the least I could do. 

Waiting to be discovered

    When I saw that a webisode of Brandt Point was filming at Nancy's house, I wondered if this could be my opportunity to break into the biz.   I stood nearby for a while, waiting to be noticed.

   Nothing happened, but that's OK.  I've heard perseverance is key to making it in the industry.  

 

If I have to wait tables for awhile, so be it.

Supporting the injured

        Thomas steered his wheelchair over to visit his beloved skateboard, the very cause of his injury.

It was a dark moment.

I knew Thomas needed moral support, so I jumped aboard the skateboard to show that I was with him.

I think my encouragement means a lot to him.