Tag Archives: New York Times

Mar 22

For Love of the Dog

I always start my morning by reading email, visiting the Daily  Beast (via links they email me), and then swinging over to the New York Times to check out the headlines. This morning I scrolled through a fun slideshow called “Readers’ Photos: A Family’s Best Friend?” Anyone who knows me knows I’m a sucker for this kind of thing, and I was impressed by the quality of the pictures! Some were really outstanding. It was fun to read the little stories that accompanied the pictures and how the animals had changed their owners’ lives. But then one submission really put a damper on my day. It was next to an unusual looking dog, very striking, and the story next to the picture said this:

I am not a dog person. But with three boys and a country house, I deemed it important that my children experience a deep connection with a being who wasn’t human. So, we ordered our hypoallergenic Spanish water dog, Muki, last spring and guess what, she is a “Velcro” dog, desperate for my attention and jealous of my husband. It’s stressful having a dog I don’t want alienate my husband and only slightly tolerate the boys. I sometimes feel the urge to let the coyotes lurking in our backyard lure her away, but I know I have created this new dynamic and must deal with it rationally. She is getting better, but we wish she were more lablike in her behavior. What to do?
— Aspen Real Life, Snowmass, Colo.

WTF? I almost feel like this is some sort of joke, some tool taking on the tone of a snobby Aspenite who can’t stand her new hypoallergenic Spanish water dog (a breed many of us were probably unaware of). First of all, I’m sure she paid top-dollar for this dog from some breeder without doing any research on what this breed was like—she probably put emphasis on hypoallergenic, without thinking about personality. Second, to say she occasionally feels the urge to let the coyotes have their way with this dog is particularly disgusting. I’m not saying she can’t express regret over purchasing the dog and it not working out for her family, but that’s not quite the same as saying she wished the dog would be brutally mauled and killed while the owner’s back is turned. I find that pretty gross, and it makes me feel sorry for the poor dog because it’s stuck in a household with this flake. I mean, it’s not rocket science to find a new home for the dog—there are rescues and humane societies that could help. I just hope her written words are more severe than her actions, and that she secretly adores the dog (though I’m not holding my breath).

May 4

Misc.

I had a dream I lost my job. In the dream, my job involved some sort of medical duties…I think I was drawing blood, or something. I lost it the same day I got it. Someone I haven’t seen in real life for ten or eleven years was with me, and she invited me to lunch once we received the news. As if I could afford lunch with just having lost my job. As if there were no problems at all. I declined and said I was going to go visit my mom & step-dad. I think I was going to ask if I could move back in with them.

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I despise how expendable companion animals are in this society. I sympathize that people are struggling financially (as you can see from above, my own concern with finances is permeating my sleeping brain), but it seems once you’ve made a commitment to an animal, it should be absolute. I’d no sooner return the cats to the pound because of my finances than I would turn out a friend or family member from the guest room. We may all be eating beans and rice—the cats and the people—but we’re all in it together.

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And thank you, William Rhoden, for asking why we continually give horse racing a pass:

“The sport is at least as inhumane as greyhound racing and only a couple of steps removed from animal fighting.”

This, of course, is in response to the death of Eight Belles in yesterday’s Kentucky Derby.

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I’m working with a friend at the center in hopes of helping him with his English. He had asked me several times if I could teach him English; I told him I couldn’t “teach” him, but I could practice with him. In our sessions, we discuss the work he’s doing in his English class. During the most recent session, he was trying to understand when to use “we” and when to use “us.” Alternating between English and Spanish, I tried to explain objective case. He thought the difference was based on the people included in the pronoun (“we” included the speaker, but he was defining “us” like “them”). I corrected this and then asked if his teacher had explained objective case. He said no.  I asked if he had learned the basics of sentence formation (noun, verb, adjective, etc.) He said no. Granted, this may have been covered before he started attending classes because it seems like fundamental information to have for anyone wanting to understand how and why we select the words we choose. I don’t get the sense he is learning the 1st/2nd/3rd person breakdown either, which (I think) makes memorizing all of this information much easier. The only reason I remember the Spanish I remember is because we had to learn the various word endings based on the 1st/2nd/3rd person approach. I tried to diagram the pronouns for him, but I couldn’t explain what the diagram was meant to indicate. The language always fails me when things get too complicated.