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| Travels with Me and My Shadow |
| ...Life with Schmidty |
| He was an older dog, and I had him in my life for over a year, but in that year he taught me much. The story is that he was wild when he was young, and nearly broke Lynda's spirit. He terrorized her in the house, would misbehave randomly, sit on the furniture right in front of her, growled and threatened to bite her when all she wanted him to do was to "sit" or "stay" on command. He never did bite her, nor anyone, but he gave her hell for the first year. Then one day he decided it was enough, and behaved. He knew all along how to conduct himself properly; he knew all the commands and the forbidden activities (like sitting on the sofa); he knew how to be a gentleman but he just didn't want to. Those were his wild times. There was a cat who resided with them when he was a bit younger, and as he told the story, that cat would go for walks with them and followed them everywhere, even to and on the beach! One time, another dog tried to attack Schmidty, and that cat cornered the other dog, hissing and spitting and not letting it near us, until we got smart and high-tailed it out of there. A few blocks later, the cat caught up with us, that other dog was nowhere in sight. |
| My baby picture; younger or older, Diane always said I looked like a little man. |
| Though my ears were perfectly straight, at will I could do this bending-thing with the left ear; it drove Elfie and Lynda crazy. |
| About Me Schatten Travels Modes of Travel Hiking Experiences Lands & their Cultures |
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| Schmidty was very smart, and he trained me. He also trained Blizzard, a white Samoyed who outweighed Schmidty by 60 pounds (27 kilos). That Samoyed would do something idiotic, and Schmidt would jump up and hang on to the hair on Blizzard's neck, and shake Bliz with all of his might. That dog learned quickly, and it always surprised everyone how Schmidt could just take over. I knew the reason; Schmidt was an alpha dog, the kind of personality that has to be in control. Usually the rest of us dogs just let that kind of personality take over. Me too, though he passed on some of his alpha traits to me. He was kind and mellow, but took no nonsense from any animal. I am like that, I won't pick a fight but I will certainly finish one. |
| The cat taught Schmidty a few things. I didn't know the cat, but she used to clean his eyes and ears every day. He learned that trick and did it with me, and to this day a person can rub my eyes and I will just melt. |
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| Schmidty and Blizzard |
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| Pardon Us! |
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