Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Carolinized

I need to thank Donna Everhart for pointing me toward this link ...

My Penny is not the only one. In fact: "There can't be only one", if I may steal from Highlander.

There is nothing I can do to top the post I have linked, so I beg of you to read that. Its main result here has been a review of my pics of Penelope here upon the blog - and inspiration to create something of a different sort of Collection post.


I've been told of Dr. Brisbin, pretty much The authority on Carolina Dogs, but am also arrogant enough to self-diagnose Penelope's breed. As she is spayed, there is no other way to know. She just *is*. My ur-puppy.

She has the fishhook tail, the almond eyes - the yaller coat I cannot spend enough time scritching. She digs snout holes. She looks like pariahs across the world; those dogs in Egyptian stelae, living half-wild in New Guinea, known in Korea ... and the Midatlantic U. S.



Her relationship to the ground seems to me clearest in this photo. It's merely the thing she uses to lift herself up; nothing that has pull on her, it is the springboard from which her life above it is conducted. Occasionally, it makes a good place to nap.



... or to play ...



But really, the ground is just where she keeps a few things and leaps up from.

This was my outdoor bone. It was like ten pounds. I flindered it.
Only half an ounce or so remains of this mammajamma.

This. Is my indoor bone. It is a hambone.

The Yellow Poobah likes They Grey Poobah well enough. They get along.



But it's nowhere near so snugglesome as occasionally it may appear.



Pum's muscular power became clear to me about this moment, when I'd known her about a year:



Her smile is beautiful, and she loves Christmas.



Ugh. I mean, seriously. Have you ever seen a more beautiful thing, greater happiness and contentment, sweeter eyes, funnier ears?

A more natural nature?



I am privileged, both in Pen and in Gossamer too.

I oughtta repay the privilege I have in Pen, and take her to one of those tail-gate events for her kind.

They adopt good.
--Mark Eden

Yes. Yes, they do. As people, we should do as well.

And, to paraphrase Cy Brown's closing lines: I love *my* Penny. I'm her people.

4 comments:

Donnaeve said...

Awww, so sweet and loving. I got chill bumps looking at her pictures. It makes me want to look for a Carolina doggie. (i.e. that comment I made about getting Blaine a "real" dog.)

A Carolina dog would suit him. I was amazed at how different some looked. There was one with black markings - I thought that surprising. Old Yeller, was that a Carolina dog in the story, I wonder...

Amazing dogs. I know you know how lucky you are!

Lennon Faris said...

Love this! Nice pics to capture her personality. I love the eyes rolled to the side especially. She seems like a wonderful gal!

Colin Smith said...

Penelope looks to be a fine dog, as dogs go. But, sorry, I'm still with Team Gossamer. :) Lovely pictures, though.

DLM said...

Lennon and Colin, thank you.

Donna, I have DEFINITELY thought of Old Yeller! And while Pen is definitely Yaller Dog material, she actually has sabling and an interesting pattern of light and dark on her face. In that second photo of her, you can just see the paler fur that surrounds her muzzle and eyes. Apparently, that is especially typical of Carolina puppies, and the ginger ones sometimes have the sabled mask. Pen has the blackest lips and nose, and when it rains her black skin shows through her yellow coat, and she gets rain freckles.

Pen's power and energy are a lot to take; and the main reason some don't take to her. but ugh, her people-eyes. The way her whites show is so much a part of her, for me, and unique (Penelope resembles my first dog, Sidney, a bit; but her eyes grabbed me from the first moment). It really interested me, in the linked article, that the author's Penny-lina dog (:)) has no visible whites, that he made mention of it. His dog is definitely more wolfish, whereas my Carolina is more the trim Asian or Egyptian pariah.

I am unbearably blessed in both my pets. Gossamer is the lovingest, most forgiving boy (and, of course, one mighty fine Editor Cat). Pum is ... well, she's *mine* in a way that is revelatory to me.

Thanks all of you for coming by. I love seeing you!