Saturday, October 17, 2009

Meet My Little Love


Here is one of the loves of my life: my dog Baron, or officially, Birkenwald's Little Baron. He is a purebred schipperke, a small black dog from Belgium. He is twelve years old now, and acts like he is two. My FaceBook friend list is full of schipperke owners. Probably because they are unusual dogs, and not seen very often.

Questions schipperke owners get frequently are: "Is that a cat?" Hmm, no. "What kind of dog is that?" Well, at least the person can tell it is a dog and not something else. Even worse, the person who says, "Is that one of the miniature pigs?" Those people I encourage Baron to lunge and bark at. A pig. How degrading! The weirdest inquiry about Baron happened at the public library. Baron was minding his own business, when a man with a BMI of about 50, asked us: "Is he one of the boat dogs?" We told him that yes, schipperkes are often found on boats. Then he said, "Is it true he has to lifted up to pee? Like going over the edge of a boat?" At that point, I wanted to be far away from the big man, and so did Baron. He knows when he can smell a strange being. I didn't know what to say so we scootled away.

Baron is an active dog. That is putting it mildly. On days when we are all home he is a whirlwind of activity. He wants to go out about every hour to make sure nothing has invaded his turf. He wants food. All the time. He wants a belly rub, or to eat a tasty spider he finds on the floor. He jumps up on our laps for a chew on a rawhide stick and to watch the Yankees on TV, then jumps down a minute later to see what is happening in another room. Sometimes he goes upstairs. What he does up there is beyond me. We just hear alot of thumps. How can a 16 pound dog make thumping noises?

Baron is a challenging dog to take photos of. First, because he is black. And he doesn't stop moving. And he hates cameras. I only got this shot because my six year old nephew was waving something enticing in front of him on a fork. Later he shared his cake with Baron, so maybe that was it.

Right now he is downstairs watching an old Humphrey Bogart war movie with my husband. War movies put him to sleep. (me too).

I would tell you about my other love, but he hates getting his picture taken even more than the dog!


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