Monday, May 18, 2009

Gil

There is a new dog here, a German Wirehaired Pointer who goes by the name of Gil. He's an ugly thing, tall and lanky with an unruly mop of spotted coarse brown fur and orange eyes. He looks like a mutt, the kind of dog which always smells bad, but his companion, Pete, a young guy who can't decide between a beard and a goatee, seemed quite proud telling me all about the breed. I only half listened, keeping my eye on Gil as he kept himself busy trying to mount poor Duncan, who was attempting to be polite, trying his hardest to avoid conflict by spinning in slow circles, always keeping Gil at his flank. He's quite willing to go along with just about anything, but the one thing Duncan won't tolerate is being mounted. After several attempts he turned and snapped at the red-eyed devil and reared back on his hind legs to demonstrate his authority. He is older than Gil, after all, and even though he's not quite as tall he's been roaming and marking these grounds since before the damn Pointer was even born. Pete seemed shocked at Duncan's behavior and said something about it.

"Well," I said. "Your dog is being is a bit domineering."

Pete shook his head. "Nope. No way. There's not a domineering bone in Gil's body," he told me and then went on to explain how Gil had been the sweetest little dog, blah blah blah, on and on, finally wrapping up with, "He's not the dominant type."

I glanced over to find Gil hovering above Duncan, his leg raised.

"Then why is he pissing on my dog?" I snapped as I pushed Gil out of the way and pulled Duncan to safety with only a little damage.

I don't think we'll be playing with them any time soon.

And it was time for a bath anyway.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

People just don't get it!

Unknown said...

Be grateful that Gil didn't make YOU the object of his attentions!

Lori Whitwam said...

OK, Tom asked me last night if I'd read this and I said I hadn't yet. He told me about it. I said, "Gee, Duncan doesn't like conflict and just wants to be polite. But he's not going to put up with that." Then I read the post. Scary how close I called that one.

Dog By Nature said...

How rude.... you know a dog is a reflection of his owner. Poor Duncan.

Michelle

Rick said...

Curt you always show grace under pressure. The way I look at it if you piss on my dogs you piss on me. Some dogs and their masters can be intolerable.

Farley's Mom said...

We understand how upsetting that is! I'm sorry that happened to Duncan :(

Anonymous said...

I've been lurking since Spring of 2008 and now it's time to share something.
It only took one time for me to see what a sad animal control (run by the police) agency we have here when two German Shepherds attacked our cat 5 years ago.
We had to find the two dogs -- the animal control worker left because it was time for him to 'clock out'.
And he never followed up after we found the owners. We ended up getting the owners to pay for most of the vet bills and when we weren't satisfied we put a lean on their house.
But you need to document what you've been through with this Pete character. The way to do that is to call the police. Sarah was a witness this time. Carry a small camera with you to document. Seriously!
Otherwise you or Duncan may be hurt some day and you have no documentation.
Hang in there!