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I know this is way off topic and I will abid by list rules,
but only after one more violation describing the gentle nature and personal
rewards Merlin has given me. Inspite of each transgression I instantly
forgive him and have learned to live more in the moment as is necessary when in
a trade. I promise not to say another word. There was a movie on TV
in which the theme was you can't trust a mongrel as you never know when he will
turn on you. So here this 90lb stranger is lying on my bed and I am
wondering when he is going to devour me, although he appeared to be much more
than a mongrel.
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size=2>----------------------------------------------------------
He has a big neck to hug. My niece who is only a foot
taller likes to hug him when she comes to visit. Initially Merlin acted
aggressively towards her, perhaps thinking she was another animal in his
space. He apparantly knew little of children. Cookies soon made them
pals.
I think he was on his way out of this world when he dropped
in. A newspaper ad in the lost and found, posters on telephone poles,
inquiring with neighbors, the postal lady, the UPS driver, none resulted in an
owner showing up. He has a bumb right hip/leg that is looking much better
now. When walking he would leave three paw prints and one arc in the sandy
soil, kind of interesting. I kept thinking wave1,wave3,wave5, Exit as we walked
towards his favorite grass. Had I not started feeding him he would not
have had the strength to climb out of the drain ditch with such steep
sides. With his weight and weakness it was a struggle. I think he
also hid in there to stay out of site from other dogs and walkers on the canal
bank.
So far he is slowly killing me. One evening I was taking
him through the outside door in the dark and he stepped in front of me. I
tripped and started to fall on him. In avoiding him and him moving I
landed on the concrete sidewalk on both knees. What a pain. They are still
not right and if I kneel on them there is a strange feeling. Then another
time a neighbor dog was up our way spotting on all the places where our dogs
spot. Guess its a territorial battle among the dogs. The outside dog
was barking in his pen and Merlin in the house started barking too. So I put him
on the retractable leash and we headed outside. This time I looked one way
and he ran the other way and suddenly I was airborn, no kidding. I was
lifted off my feet, pulled in the air and landed on my left hip and upper left
chest. For a few days I had to use crutches from hip and thigh pain.
The chest must have an internal bruise. His 90 pounds running at full
speed had much more momentum than my 180 at rest. So when he hit the end
of the leash all the F=MA was transferred into my hand, my arm, my shoulder and
body, just like the impact of a 500 point DOW drop had on the stomach
in '87. The poor shoulder socket was in a deep hurt. Now the
surprising thing is Merlin came back to my groaning on the ground rather than
continuing after the neighbor's dog. Most of the day he just lies curled
up on a floor mat right beside my chair. If he hears gunshots from the
neighbors or farmers chaising birds out of the fields then he crawls under the
desk and lies in front of my feet...and that's a dog that could kill when his
aggression is turned on.
He is a special dog . He has quite a vocabulary
too. Whines, barks, growls, grrrrs, licks, stares. Sleeps with his
ears straight up always tuned into the environment. When he wants
something he raises his right leg and holds his paw out. By his
behaviour I've tried to figure out some of his past. Like his facination
with the van, perhaps he lived with a retired person who was passing through the
valley in their van or RV and bolted during the storm.
Like when I'm preparing to put his collar on, he will
sit anxiously quiet like someone did it before me. Also if he
sees me pick up the leash he knows we are going walking.
Now get this, if we head outside for a walk he first heads for
our other dog's pen. From the very first day he was here he knew I took
Boy for a walk. This really surprised my mom and I. He had been
watching our routine from outside the yard. It really was amazing to see
him want to include Boy in the walks. There is a tolerated
jealousy between them and Merlin has become the dominant one in the pecking
order after a few skirmishes.
One last thing, living this close to an intelligent animal has
its surprises. Like children, dogs behave the way they think we
people want them to behave, but there are times when I can catch him
in his animalness. I'll try to coax him into playing and it sounds like he
is trying to speak, its kind of a deep throaty sound accompanied by some kind of
paw gestures. It really would be interesting to hear what he has to say
about his experiences prior to coming here. I'm not so sure he totally
trusts me yet as his eyes are still checking me out to make sure I'm for
real. There are times when his eyes seem to communicate a thankyou or
expression of gratitude, but perhaps that is a reflection of my own
perceptions. He will look you straight in the eyes whereas some dogs will
avoid eye contact. If only he could speak.
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----- Original Message -----
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black">From:
Don
Thompson
To: <A
href="mailto:realtraders@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx";
title=realtraders@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>realtraders@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2001 9:06
AM
Subject: Re: [RT] silly question
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
My sentiments also, Bob, your descriptions are
pictoral and evoke good concrete kinds of mental images. The last
sentence was a little too vortexy, but what the hell, you suck me into the
story very well.
don
What a nice story. You are a great story teller and should
write more. I will be watching for your stories. RachelAt 09:26 PM
2/26/01 -0800, you wrote:
OK,Ok, I have a
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