Queen Matilda, Belle of the Fuzzball
Showing posts with label Cute. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cute. Show all posts
Daily Dose of Cute
When we got home from the feed store yesterday, each of the dogs got a dried pig's ear. Dudley immediately ate his in its entirety, of course, and then this happened:
"Hey, how come Zelda has something I don't have?"
*Jedi mind tricks to make Zelda give up her chewy treat*
"TWO-LEGS! THIS IS NOT FAIR! I DEMAND JUSTICE! OR I WILL WHINE LIKE A BABY!"
"Hey, Zelda. Are you done with that? Are you done yet? Can I have some? Are you done?"
It was at this point I told Dudley to leave Zelda in peace. Not because she was remotely bothered, but because his passive-aggressive hovering was irritating me, lol. He went and laid on the couch like a good boy, but not before giving me one last pitiful look.
"How could you? OH THE HUMANITY."
(As always, note Livs photobombing the last photo. She is the master.)
[Related: Agony Antler.]
Daily Dose of Cute
The Three Snoozes: Olivia, Dudley, and Zelda.
I still can't stop thinking about Tony. Wondering where he could be, who he is with, what is he thinking, is he thinking of me, and whether he'll ever return someday...
I need all the arms of all the couches for my nap. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
♪ Two-Legs, can you hear me? Two-Legs, are you near me? ♫
Daily Dose of Cute
A tale of doggy friendship, set to Yann Tierson's "Yellow."
Text Onscreen: "Dudley and Zelda: BFFs." Video of Dudley the Greyhound and Zelda the Black-and-Tan Mutt standing in the garden; Zelly playbows at Dudley. Cut to Dudz and Zelly in the garden in winter, in loads of fluffy white snow. Zelly spins to get Dudley to chase her. Dudz fakes her out and takes off; she chases him across the garden to the back patio, where they reconvene and go for a stroll together. Cut to the two of them wrestling in the garden in autumn, leaping and play-biting at each other and chasing each other around. Cut to Dudz chasing Zelly through the garden in the spring; as he catches her, she does a barrel roll to evade him. They run, and then Dudley breaks to shake himself off. Zelly waits patiently, then spins to engage him in a chase again.
Cut to the dogs playing tug-o-war with a plushy toy indoors. Zelly gets it away from Dudz, then offers it back to him again so the game can continue. Cut to the dogs bursting out the back door like a shot into the garden. Cut to Zelly grabbing a plushy lobster and bringing it over to the big pillow where Dudley is lying, and lying down beside him. Cut to Dudley digging in the garden; Zelly sniffs at the hole, leaps playfully at Dudz, then runs in a big circle, coming back to further investigate the hole he's dug. Cut to more dramatic chasing through the garden in early winter. So many waggy tails! Cut to Dudz splayed out in the grass in summer, with Zelly keeping guard in front of him. Cut to the dogs lying on the sofa together, looking at me with their sweet faces. The end.
Capybara Sits in the Old Hot Spring
Would you like to see 17 photos of capybaras relaxing in Japanese hot springs? Why not, right? Here is one of those photos!
Does it make you want to see the rest? Well, here you go!
[H/T to Jordan.]
Daily Dose of Cute
Daily Dose of Cute
Zelda models her trendy new winter scarf designed by preeminent canine haute couture designer Iain McEwan:
Not only does this stylish scarf feature all the fashion-forward details we've come to expect from the Iain McEwan line; it is also extremely versatile for the fashionista pooch on a budget:
Zelly was a fan of her scarf. She ran about the house with it for awhile...
"I can haz treat?"
...then eventually shook it off when she was done, at which time she and Dudley commenced a rousing game of tug-o-war with it. Obviously.
The Puppy Room!
For many university students, faculty, and staff, it's the Most Not-Wonderful Time of the Year: Finals! This year, Dalhousie University has a solution: the Puppy Room.
Dalhousie University in Halifax is turning to some big, slobbery experts to help students deal with the stress of upcoming exams.The student union is opening a Puppy Room on Tuesday where students can hang out with several dogs, including Roc, a St. Bernard who happens to be a therapy dog.
"They can come in and sit down, they can pat the dogs, talk to the dogs," said his owner, Mark Grant. "That's our hope – that the dogs will bring as much comfort to the individuals that we're going to meet as the individuals will bring to the dogs."
Roc will be joined by other dogs, including a Dalmatian and a golden retriever.
"A lot of the folks that we're going to have the pleasure of seeing probably have dogs back home. They miss their dogs, and just want to hug a dog," said Grant.
I hereby decree that all schools and workplaces should have a Puppy Room. Universe: make it so!
(Until we get that thing going, though, here is a virtual version. No final exams required.)
The Whistling Puppy!
Food-Seeking Counter-Jumping Beagle!
Tap-Dancing Corgi!
An Extremely Excited Basset!
The Great Beagle Escape!
Daily Dose of Cute
Tilsy
We are coming up on ten years since we adopted Matilda. I don't remember what day it was exactly, but it was either right before or right after Christmas 2002. She was a kitten, about 13 weeks old.
I used to have pictures of her as a wee thing, but the disk on which they were saved was long ago destroyed by some inexplicable corruption. She was not so fuzzy. We didn't even expect her to be a long-haired cat. Otherwise, she is exactly the same.
She has always been the most regal-looking beast, and all who know her only by photograph expect her to be a classic cat stereotype—queenly, aloof, dignified, stoic. She is anything but. In real life, she is silly, playful, talkative, unfathomably graceless and klutzy.
This photo of her, snapped earlier today as she sat beside me on her chair in my office, captures her perfectly. At first glance, she is the picture of imperious feline comportment—but, upon closer inspection, the tip of her little pink tongue gives her away as the goof that she is.
Daily Dose of Cute
Zelda, lying on me last night while I was stretched out on the chaise.
This dog is made of sweetness. When she crawls up in my lap, because she is a 55-pound lapdog, and lays her head on my chest, and looks at me with her big brown eyes that are just endless pools of love, I do the only thing that can possibly convey I love her back in equal measure: I tell her the story of the day we adopted her.
It's not that I think she understands the words I'm saying. I'm quite sure she doesn't. It's just that I can't tell that story—especially not to her, gazing into her sweet face and rubbing the tips of her wee Dorito ears—without pouring into it all my feelings of relief and joy that we found her. And she always knows what I am feeling.
Nobody else was looking at you except me, I tell her. I couldn't believe they could pass you by. Her tail wags and thumps against my leg. Her eyes hold my gaze, and she gives me that grin of hers. I told the Dadsy I didn't think I'd be able to put you back in your cage. I imagine my fondness for her, my fierce protectiveness, my loyalty, moving through my fingertips and into her velvety ears.
They are all the things I see in her face, and I want to give them right back.
I knew you were my dog, I tell her. You are my dog.
Photo of the Day
From the Telegraph's Pictures of the Day for 23 November 2012: An emperor penguin chick peers out from under [hir parent] in Snow Hill Island, Antarctica. [Thorsten Milse/Robert Harding/Barcroft Media]"Hello, world! Here I am!"
Daily Dose of Cute
"I am so goofy!"
"Have you noticed how goofy I am yet? LOOK AT ME I'M GOOFY!"
"Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese!"
Fun Fact: The job title on Dudley's business card is "the Goofiest Goofball That Ever Goofed."
Daily Dose of Cute
Mistress Elinor Gwynn would like a closer look at that delicious bit of sweetmeat you are holding, you dear human you!
♥ Big Black Dogs
[Content Note: Animal abuse.]
Zelda
Zelly is a BBD. A big black dog.
Big black dogs who find themselves in shelters often have trouble finding their way out again. It's a phenomenon known as Big Black Dog Syndrome, or Big Black Dog Bias. BBDs tend to spend longer in shelters/rescues, and spending longer in overburdened shelters means a higher risk of death, in places without funding or facilities to support long-term care of huge numbers of homeless dogs.
There are a lot of factors that play into BBD Syndrome: People still choose dogs primarily on appearance, despite the fact that temperament and energy is what determines the success of an adoption. The color black also continues to be used as a cultural marker of ethical darkness, and the association is so deeply ingrained that studies have found people to judge teams wearing black uniforms as more aggressive even when they are not, and found people to be more aggressive when wearing black uniforms than other colors. Black dogs are routinely portrayed as aggressive in pop media. Black dogs don't photograph as well (or, really, as easily) as lighter- or multicolored dogs, which puts them at a disadvantage on pet adoption sites.
And black coats have the most marked difference between healthy and neglected dogs: Zelda is constantly complimented on her lush, shiny coat, but when we first saw her, emaciated and malnourished and dirty, her coat was flat and lackluster; it had a grim, greyish cast but was dark enough to show all the dander cast off from her dehydrated skin.
It all conspires to make life difficult for a homeless BBD.
When Tamara Delaney of Woodville, Wis., volunteered to find a home for a black Labrador Retriever named Jake last year, she had no idea what she was up against. Jake, cared for by a rescue group, had already waited nearly three years for a new home. And he would wait eight more months as Delaney tried to find someone to take in the big Lab.Doomed. It is, unfortunately, an appropriately ominous word.
It didn't matter much that Jake was a sociable dog and in perfect health. Jake's problem wasn't his temperament—it was the color of his coat. Jake bore the stigma of the "BBD," an acronym used to refer to big black dogs, who are frequently passed over for flashier, prettier dogs and wind up, like Jake, waiting for years to be adopted.
"Nobody wants a black-coated dog," rescue workers told Delaney as she tried without success to find a home for Jake. And when Delaney turned to the Internet, she found that shelters across the country were overflowing with black-coated mutts.
"Please don't overlook our black dogs," rescue groups pleaded on their home pages above pictures of Rottweilers, Chows and Labs sporting bright bandanas. One shelter's website just came right out with the grim truth: "The general public is not aware of how doomed black dogs are when they are brought to a pound."
Jake escaped that fate. Delaney adopted him. And then, in 2004, she started Black Pearl Dogs, to help save more Big Black Dogs and raise awareness about the bias against BBDs—a problem that yet persists.
Most black dogs have to rely on shelter staff and volunteers to steer potential adoptors their way. And indeed, many shelters take extra steps to make black dogs more adoptable, according to Kate Pullen, director of animal sheltering issues at the Humane Society of the United States in Washington, D.C. Teaching the dogs tricks, putting placards on kennels highlighting the dog's personality ("I may just be a black dog, but I know how to balance a biscuit on my nose."), making sure multiple black dogs aren't kenneled next to one other—anything to catch the eye and imagination of potential adoptors.Just this past weekend, Iain and I were recalling how the shelter staff knew nothing about Zelda—a stray BBD who hadn't even been given a name. They didn't know if she was housebroken or spayed. They barely even knew what dog we were talking about when we said we wanted to adopt her. It's not that they were heartless; they were overwhelmed, and they quite justifiably assumed no one was going to give the BBD with the silly ears a home.
"I've had to turn away many black dogs because I can't fill the place up with them," says Jill Wimmer, shelter manager at PAWS Atlanta, that city's oldest and largest no-kill shelter. "And every one I turned away had a great temperament." Wimmer knows that she can likely adopt out three dogs in the time it takes to find a home for one BBD.
BBDs need extra effort, but limited time and resources means that extra effort always comes at the expense of other dogs, who are more adoptable.
The best thing I can think to do is help raise awareness about the plight of BBDs, so that they don't require extra effort in the first place.
After all, even if they could advocate for themselves, it's still us who needs to change.
My Big Black Dog Zelda, fast asleep on my lap.
* * *
In Missouri, November is Adopt a Black Dog Month. You can adopt a BBD from the Humane Society of Missouri for less than half the usual fee through the end of November.
* * *
Note: Black cats also face a similar problem, with the added complication of superstitions about black cats being bad luck. Black cats fortunately have lots of champions working to undermine that bias. I have owned three solid black cats in my life: Midnight, Inky, and Moire. None of them brought me any bad luck. ♥
