Apropos of absolutely nothing, do you know what a whistlepig is? I looked it up with Elana last night. What about weenusk, moonack, and monax? [Boy, my spell-check went nuts with that sentence.] Hint: they’re all the same thing. Another hint: Within its geographical range, it’s the largest member of the family Sciuridae, same as my friend the squirrel. Final hint: It’s a kind of marmot and its young are called… chucklings.
You got it! It’s a woodchuck, more commonly known as groundhog. I don’t know why it has so many names. All I know is that when I grow up, I’m going to be a whistlepig. They do indeed whistle when alarmed, but I don’t get the pig part. Unlike me, they are very aggressive.
Molly sent me two things today. The first was flowers for Mother’s Day. They smell awfully nice too.
The second was an email with another series of links to adoptable dogs she’d hand-picked for me to review. I was drawn to one in particular:
Casper is a 2.5 year old German Shepherd with a calm and affectionate temperament… He is house trained and knows basic commands, but still needs to learn walking well on the leash. He is not used to the leash and tends to pull on walks as well as barking at dogs and strangers on the street because he is so excited to greet them… He is extremely affectionate and loves belly rubs. He does not chew anything in the house and can be left alone without any issues. While he will play with toys when offered, he prefers to spend his days napping, staring out the window, and cuddling up on the couch with his humans.
Concerned about that leash reactivity the description mentions, I surprised myself by sending the rescue organization an inquiry about how hard a problem that is to fix. I would be surprised if I got a reply, since my past two or three attempts at contacting agencies dead-ended. I’m sure that’s just as well. And then it occurred to me to send this info to Eleni, who has extensive experience working with dogs in a shelter setting, and she replied that Casper’s problems could be difficult to deal with, especially with such a big dog. Oh well. It’s probably better that I keep thinking about adding a dog to my life but not actually doing it. It’s much cheaper, and no commitment!
The squirrels have been barely visible for the past few days. I spotted this guy in a tree from my bedroom window this afternoon, grabbed my camera, dashed outside and managed to snag this close shot before s/he fled.
getting a dog to walk on a leash without pulling is very easy. but i assume there is more to it? the barking at other dogs and strangers? i’m not sure i want to tell you about the easy leash fix….
Stella was good at catching whistlepigs!
Casper looks wonderful — but I agree with Marianna on the reaction=to=strangers tendency. You would have people complaining and reporting him!
Marianna: I’m dying to know about the easy leash fix…?
I did know what a whistlepig is! Your “All I know is that when I grow up, I’m going to be a whistlepig” made me giggle, and I support this goal fully.
The flowers came out so purdy! Yay. I’m glad you like them.
Curious to hear if anything happens with Casper. He could be tricky, but I’d imagine “barking and pulling because excited” is easier to reckon with than “barking and pulling because aggressive or scared.”