If I were ever to write a book, I think this might be my author photo:
I don't really know what my book would be about...if fiction, maybe it would be a graphic novel:
The Grand Adventures of JasperFantastic. I would be able to fly from dogpark to dogpark, playing hard and ridding the world of strange little dogs--don't get me wrong, I'm cool with little dogs, and cats even, if I've been properly introduced and ground rules have been laid down and followed consistently. Really. I love an authority figure.
Or something Dickensian, how a poor little owner-relinquished puppy from the Sacramento shelter system is rescued, fostered by an awesome lady who taught me how to sit, and down, and learns to be a great dog, building the foundations of the JasperFantastic I am today, of the kind of confusing adolescent time I had in a home, to the foster home where I am today...I am working on writing the happy ending right now of course with this site and with the help of my guardians at the
Greyhound Adoption Center.
Or maybe I'd write a non-fiction book on the different play-styles and their health benefits. I. love. to. play. I could play all day (although, I am still a greyhound and naps are important, but brief and scattered throughout the day) with almost anybody once we've been introduced. I can play "fake rough" with lots of mouthing (one of my favourite styles, where you and the other dog get all slobbery and thump each other down) like I do with my little buddy Sheila Doog, my foster mom's niece:
I really love playing with her, because even though she's little, she gives as good as she gets--check out our fangs in this pic!
I would really like to have sporting dog sibling of my own, somebody who will just play play play with me all day day day.
As you can see in the picture, when I don't get enough exercise, I like to shred stuff. Mostly cardboard or paper (newspaper, paper shopping bags, one time I pulled a book off the shelf and had at it, but I only ate a little bit of the binding) but sometimes I branch out. I share this habit with Libélula, my foster sister. I love playing shreddy-tug with her, but sometimes she gets a little intense. She's not so good with the sharing.
But
I'm really good at sharing, here I am sharing the smeary remains of a Caesar salad with Crivens, my foster-mom's sister (her mother's dog,
GAC's Crimini):
And when my fostermom went out for coffee one night with her friends, she must not have secured the latch on the spare room where she keeps her spinning fiber stash and the three of us (Tahoe, Libélula and I) had a really good night of sharing...now first, before I continue, I should probably introduce some of the key players in my foster family, just so you can picture them:
This is Tahoe.
The little dude is obsessed with
Greenies. Months ago, the fosterparents kept the Greenies in this spare room and at least twice a day, he scratches and pushes against the door to see if he can get it open to look for treats. He's obsessed with treats and becomes a total spaaz...this is why he failed obedience (Crivens is in the background watching the bad example):
And here's my foster-sister, a fat, greedy, cranky little girl who always has to have whatever you're having:
As you can see, if I'm going to have a hope in heck of becoming all the dog I can be, I gotta get out of here. I'm a totally charming schmarty-pantz and it's wasted on these dorks.
Anyway, so my fostermom goes out for coffee with her friends, and Tahoe does his door-check thing. Miracle of miracles, he was able to jimmy it open. We didn't find any Greenies in there, but she had a whole bunch of stuff in plastic bags and cardboard boxes and we just couldn't resist...we artistically rearranged it everywhere. Here's some yak fiber (the grey brown stuff, oh it smelled awesome) and the blue stuff was kind of boring Pima cotton:
There was a huge bag of merino wool and possum fur from New Zealand, and all three of us spread it and some more of that cotton all over the deck. In this pic you can see Libélula waiting by the deck gate. She has no idea why fostermom was so irritated when she came home, but I knew, 'cuz I'm smarter than her.
Here's some plain white wool. Man, that was a fun time. We shredded, took stuff out, then went back in...working as a team, you can accomplish a lot in a relatively short amount of time. I think that's one really important lesson I've learned that I'm looking forward to sharing with others.
Most of the time, I stick to "appropriate toys." I love playing frisbee and I'm a huge fan of those soft bright coloured frisbees. I like to snatch them from the air and then be chased by the other dogs, but if the other dogs aren't into chasing, I'll just bring it back to whoever threw it. A little less interesting, but I like it when they call me "good boy." I really like that. And butt scratches.
