The continued story of
ZARDOZ
Previous photos are available at
the previous
site:
Now at 16 weeks (though these photos are at 14 weeks),
he is developing a strong personality and learning rapidly, both for good and
bad. He has lovely Nosferatu
teeth which are best displayed on the shreds of things he leaves proudly
displayed. No paper towel is safe. Alas, he has also developed a strong fondness
for wool, raw or processed; perhaps an instinctual thing.
My mother, who sought him out in her fascination
for all things Basque, informed me recently that although a livestock guardian
normally working with sheep and goats, Zardoz is bred
from larger Pyrenees stock so that he can work with cattle. Thus, he can be expected to be somewhere
around 170-200 lbs. As of his last vet
visit for his final puppy shots, he weighed in at 54 lbs. I mentioned to mom that she had not
previously disclosed this information; she replies that of course she did, but perhaps
I was not in the room at the time. At any rate, he is now about 25% bigger than
Jerry.
He is fond of the 1812 overture, watching Farscape and Lord of the Rings, and playing fetch. He’s gotten very well behaved in the
car and settles down immediately in the front seat to take a nap, not at all
impressed with traffic or windows. He is
getting a bit big for the Honda, however.
His version of sprawling on the front seat includes chewing on the
gearshift. He has also learned that he
can reach anything in the kitchen if I do not barricade it; to the extent that
he is completely shameless when I bust him scavenging on the counter. “What?”
He has killed pretty much everything that was in
the bed of seasonals, so there are no more doggie
crop circles. He now has established his
section of the backyard (which may be a problem in the future landscaping
plans, but that’s a while off), and has continued with his acquisitive
tendencies, taking various things out in the yard as shiny little
trophies. Last night this included my
work bag, which he thoughtfully dumped out in a trail of stuff through the
house. Perhaps he just wishes to pay
homage to The Strand Bookstore, and although he did have a good chew on the
works of Kant, I don’t know that he is logical enough in thought to have
processed this.
Obedience classes, now that he has his final puppy shots,
are in the immediate future.
Meanwhile, in a journey to the dogpark two weeks ago,
A little
bit of foreshortening, but not really…
