Dogs in tight places
April 17th 2009 12:29
We bought a new house about nine months ago, a beautifully renovated, double-fronted, Victorian-era cottage with three front rooms built in the 1870s and a rear extension built in the era of modern comforts.
It has a gloriously large, light, airy, open-plan living area at the back, but the real reason we bought the house was the three smallest rooms.
Neither my wife nor I had previously had a home which had a pantry or a walk-in dressing room, and we had never seen an en suite as opulently sexy as this one.
These three beautifully appointed rooms clinched it for us and we bought, thinking all the while about the pleasure and functionality of those spaces.
How wrong we were.
Greyhounds are officially classified as medium-sized dogs. Whoever made the decision on that classification, however, has never been alone with Scratchy in our pantry or dressing room or en suite.
Scratchy, who somehow manages to sleep 25 hours a day and yet be under my feet whenever I undertake any movement more strenuous than a deep breath, loves nothing more than to share our small rooms with his humans.
"Isn't this fun," he says, sardining himself into the room while I am trying to put on socks or brush my teeth or find the wholemeal flour. "I especially like the way you stand there without moving, obviously optimising the intimacy of the dog-man communion."
I can never tell if he's serious.
If I struggle mightily, and get innovative in the way that, say, contortionists do on stage, I can just manoeuvre my sock around towards ... that's usually when Daisy arrives, locking us all into immobility.
It has a gloriously large, light, airy, open-plan living area at the back, but the real reason we bought the house was the three smallest rooms.
Neither my wife nor I had previously had a home which had a pantry or a walk-in dressing room, and we had never seen an en suite as opulently sexy as this one.
These three beautifully appointed rooms clinched it for us and we bought, thinking all the while about the pleasure and functionality of those spaces.
How wrong we were.
Greyhounds are officially classified as medium-sized dogs. Whoever made the decision on that classification, however, has never been alone with Scratchy in our pantry or dressing room or en suite.
Scratchy, who somehow manages to sleep 25 hours a day and yet be under my feet whenever I undertake any movement more strenuous than a deep breath, loves nothing more than to share our small rooms with his humans.
"Isn't this fun," he says, sardining himself into the room while I am trying to put on socks or brush my teeth or find the wholemeal flour. "I especially like the way you stand there without moving, obviously optimising the intimacy of the dog-man communion."
I can never tell if he's serious.
If I struggle mightily, and get innovative in the way that, say, contortionists do on stage, I can just manoeuvre my sock around towards ... that's usually when Daisy arrives, locking us all into immobility.
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Comment by Janet Collins
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Comment by Chris Champion
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Newly Old
Living with two large dogs like that, there are certain rules. These rules were carefully considered, and then there was a certain amount of learning and adjusting involved. It all took a bit of time, but finally the dogs were able to train us to do exactly what they wanted.
Hi Zeus,
You smooth-talker you. Are you after a cookie or an ear scratch?
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