Yes, his name is Spot. A Lhasa Apso. For over 40 years I’ve had and known and cared for dogs. Never have I been so thoroughly disliked.
Spot and his buddy Tony, a delightful creature, live downstairs. Their folks had to go away for the weekend and couldn’t find a place to take them at the last minute. Therefore it fell to Aunt Dee.
Aunt Dee is used to being greeted heartily at the door, possibly with leash in mouth and always with tail wagging. One of my favorites of all time, Woody, wasn’t the brightest but got an A+ for effort – he was so pleased so see me that he dragged me all the way to my house to call on … me. That’s a Golden Retriever for you.
Makai was a gorgeous tri-colored Collie who attacked my vacuum cleaner, and brought me all my dog Chani’s tennis balls from her toy basket and dumped them into the bathtub, one by one, while I was in it.
Gus taught me how dogs bisect an area to assure that Jim and I never left his sight, a good thing to know because Zoe does it now. Sunnegga was indeed her own little ray of sunshine who just brought love. When I was little, the neighbor’s elderly Beagle Tory would set out one day on our 1/4 mile dirt driveway and get to our house at the end of the day, stay the week (we fed her) then meander home.
On to Spot. I walk in the door. He goes and guards the food and water, growling and snapping at me. Yes, he wants to go out for a walk, but he doesn’t want me to touch his collar to add the leash. We’ve attempted to come to an understanding, which means get him out of the house asap and he’s fine on neutral territory, even friendly.
But in the mornings when we return from our walk I keep him on leash while I refill the water and food bowls, then he’s given full run of the place. I’m afraid he doesn’t let little Tony very near the food bowl either, but that’s something for the folks to work out.
I’m used to the Tony’s of the world who haven’t a care and would rather thump a tail and roll over for a belly rub. The Spots of the world are challenging, however, and deserve a place in a temporary dog-sitter’s heart. Dee







