Tuesday, October 1, 2013

JJ's Annual Visit

October 1.  Today is the thirteenth day of the little guy's visit lodging at chez vanilla.  "Little" is a relative term when applied to JJ, for he weighs thirty-one pounds in his bare feet.

On a recent excursion, we stopped for a few grocery items.  Dog and I stayed with the car.  As BBBH walked away, the beastie struck this pose.  Basically, he did not take his eyes off the spot where he last saw her disappear into the store.  Guess which one of us is his favorite.

Essentially, JJ has been a good dog.  It is a matter of working with him.  For example, he cannot resist the urge to tip wastebaskets, and so it is that all such receptacles must be kept out of his reach during his stay.  One thing we did overlook, not having any knowledge that the problem could arise, had to do with the decor in my bathroom.  On a shelf are some beautiful seashells, and on the floor in one corner is a fishing creel, net, and more shells, all this to augment the fishy shower curtain.  Anyway, back to the story.  JJ helped himself to one of the starfish, ate it, leaving enough bits on the hallway carpet that we were able to determine what he had done.

Panic.  This is a dog whose people consider him their child, and more, they are (over)concerned about his digestive system and the materials that enter it.  BBBH: "Shall we get him to the vet?"  Me: "No, he will either live or die."  But then I remembered the digital age in which we live and entered "dog eats dried starfish" into the browser bar.  Ha!  Look at that.  JJ is not the first of the canine persuasion to ingest an echinoderm.  Several people have sought advice concerning this very matter, many of them owners of, you guessed it, dachshunds.  All responses indicated that there was nothing poisonous in the consumed creature, and that, while the dog would likely barf it up, it would produce no long term ill-effects.  Minds at ease.  An hour later, dog barfed up remains of starfish.  All over the carpet.  The dog is fine.

His people are expected to retrieve their pride and joy day after tomorrow.

4 comments:

Secondary Roads said...

Did you do a post a year or two ago with the title, "A Dog Named Barfy?"

vanilla said...

Chuck, not to the best of my memory. (Though we know how unreliable that is.) Must be another blog pallie.

Grace said...

Dogs won't eat everything or anything. But if a dog won't eat it then you probably shouldn't either. Our dog would not touch fat-free cream cheese, and neither should any one else. Of course she did eat my wicker rocking chair, the window sills - a true Vermont dog - she was definitely a woodchuck.

vanilla said...

Grace, she had taste-- knew that wicker was better than fat-free cream cheese. We once had a dog, Spot, who would go into the garden and pick himself a tomato. He ate only one a day.