#JusJoJan: Canine

Dawn supplies today’s JusJoJan prompt, canine.

I prefer cats to dogs, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like dogs (with the possible exception of Kuala, The Dog From Hell).

A few years after ditching Kuala, my folks got a dog for my brother Pat, a miniature Schnauzer named Fred. Fred was a nice dog who would go crazy when he saw squirrels in the back yard, because that’s what they do, chase after squirrels. As Fred got older, he started having issues with his eliminatory functions (both of them) and would drive Mom and Pat crazy, because within a half hour of Pat bringing Fred back from his walk, Fred would start acting like he had to go out again. I think he just forgot that he had been out and remembered that at one point he had to go, and, forgetting that he had just been out, started acting like he had to go out again. Despite Mom’s accusations that he was dragging the dog in with his leg still in the air, I knew Pat was being a dutiful (so to speak) dog owner and taking him for a walk. Eventually, they had to say goodbye to Fred, and I think Mom missed him more than Pat (who, in all honesty, was about to get married and had other things on his mind).

After Pat got married, Mom adopted this scraggly little mutt named Wizard, who she called Wiz, an appropriate name because apparently that’s what he frequently did in the corner of the family room. When it was apparent that Mom’s time on Earth was short, two of her sisters, who lived several houses from each other on the same block, said they’d take him in. He just had the best time running back and forth between the two houses.

Mary had a dog when we first met, which she named Napoleon because she won him in a French Club raffle. I think she had the idea that he was going to live with us, then we got a cat, Kittyface (real name Kismet) as a wedding gift. Mary tried to introduce Napoleon to Kittyface, and the cat was not amused. So Napoleon stayed with my in-laws (who lived downstairs) and we’d see him when we went down there.

When I first met Napoleon, I squeezed his nose and made a honking sound, as a joke. Well, I either frightened or (more likely) offended him, and whenever I’d go down to visit he’d run behind my father-in-law’s chair and give me dirty looks. We eventually made up when neither of my in-laws could take him for a walk due to various ailments and it fell to me to take him for his constitutionals. Naturally, this was during the winter, early in the morning and late at night, when it was colder than a snowman’s ass outside. He was my buddy after that.