Breeding, go figure.

You folks, the ones with lives, may not have noticed but there is nothing on television since all the good shows have gone away for the summer, or in the case of Lost -- until Februaray. So tonight we were watching Crufts 2007 on Animal Planet. Crufts is the world's largest dog show.

Tiernan was very excited to watch the dog show. "Ohh, look at the puppy, Daddy, he's cute. That's a cute puppy, right?"

I actually enjoy watching dog shows. I enjoy Crufts because they have breeds that we don't have in here in the States, such as the Hovawart or the Estrella Mountain Dog. It is fine family entertainment: educational and informative. For instance, I learned that the Doberman was developed by a man named Karl Dobermann, who was a tax collector and wanted to have a scarry dog to travel with, to prevent bandits from stealing the taxes and TIernan learned the word Bitch. It seems the British commentators take their "Bitches" more seriously than the ones in the U.S. Every other dog was a bitch. As in, "that is a beautiful bitch" or "this bitch won the group with ease" or "a fine looking bitch."

Explaining to Tiernan that bitch is a bad word and he shouldn't use it, unless referring to a female dog was difficult. Not nearly as difficult as explaining to a three-year-old what a dog show actually is.

"Dad, are they going to race?"
"No. The judge is going to look at the dogs."
"Daddy, who's going to win?"
"The dog that looks the best."
"That dog looks really cute, Dad. Is he going to win?"
"I don't know, maybe."
"What kind of dog is that?"
"That is a Smooth Collie."
"He's cute. Is he going to win."
TV: "And the judge has choosen the Austrailian Shepard from the Working Group."
"Daddy, why didn't the Smooth Collie win?"
"The judge didn't like him as much."
"Are they going to race? Who is going to win? Why don't they race? How do they know who wins?"
I didn't have the stomache to explain the breed standard and all the dogs aren't really competing against each other and a cute dog may not win. I had enough trouble explaining the whole "bitch" thing.
"Why do they have these shows if there are no races? Why do people do this?"
"Because people like to find the best dog."
"How? What does a breeder do?" Here we go. Tighten you seatbelts. It is going to get rough.
"When someone has a good looking dog, they will find another good looking dog. And those dogs will get married and have puppies. And the puppies may really good looking dogs. Dogs that are good looking enough to win Best in Show. Breeders are people who marry dogs, so they can have puppies."
"Good looking puppies Dad? Will the dogs win a trophy?"
"Yes and a lot of money."
"Ohhhh, can we bring Maggie to a dog show?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Why not? she is a bitch."
And he is right. She is.

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Paulie the Puppy

There is a reason I love being Dad. And for all the complaining and bellyaching I do about the kids in this blog, some might not realize how much I enjoy these kids. And every so often, even I need to be reminded.
I got one such reminder today. The Clan O'Rourke were out on the town taking care of some errands. The most important of which was dropping off the registration papers and obligitory accompanying check at Corpus Christi so that Tiernan is all registered for school come September. This will be his offical begining of school. Big stuff.
After the school we had to walk down to the post office for stamps and to mail some bills. Luckily for me I ran out of stamps a few days before the postal rate hike to 41 cents goes into effect. I usually end up with a bunch of stamps that need addition postage to be worth anything.
So, we are walking up the Boulevard, and what is walking the other way, but the cutest little Boxer puppy and his owner. Once Reagan sees the puppy she gets so excited she starts beeping like a car alarm. "Pup-eeeeeeee! Pup-eeee! Pup-eeeeee! EEEEEEE!" She is smiling that 10,000 watt grin and screaming "Pup-eeee!
The dog takes note of this and his ears shoot straight up, dog's owner takes note of this, the old lady with the walker and hearing aid three blocks away takes note of this, everyone hears the little girl with the grin.
So the puppy walks over to the kids and starts licking Reagan's face and she is just loving this all giggles and belly laughs. Tiernan asks what the dog's name is and we found out his name is Paulie. Tiernan says, "Hi Paulie." and the dog moves over and gives him a big ole kiss on the face. More laughter and happiness.
After a few moments of bliss, its is time to move on. Paulie leaves and we go to the post office. But for a few minutes everybody was happy. The kids were happy, Paulie was happy, I was happy, Paulie's owner was happy, all because a puppy played nice with some kids.
I love this job.

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Fetch, Good Boy

I spent twenty minutes this morning playing fetch with my son. Tiernan pretended to be a dog, a dog named Wondermut, (a name he chose). I would throw a ball and he'd go fetch it. He bring it back in his mouth and spit it at me. I would throw it again. He'd get it and bring it back. Then he started to pant like a dog, and dig in the ground like a dog.
All of this would have been fine, were it not for my real dog, Maggie, laying on the couch next to me and looking at me like, "Dude, I am the dog. It's little degrading to your son to make him fetch. But, you're the boss. I'll just lay here and laugh to myself." By the way, when she laughs to herself, she laughs like Muttly from Penelope Pitstop. "Stupid human. Hsssst Hsssst Hsssst Hsssta!"

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