Walking Percy and Listening to a book.

I much prefer audio books and a favorite time is a daily walk of 1-2 miles with our family dog Percy. He is an incredible walking buddy for me.

I thought it might be interesting to some readers to show you a picture of my walking buddy that has brought so much pleasure to my whole family with his enthusiasm, ability to analyze data and communicate at a special level.

Our daughter Carey, who we live with acquired Percy from a dog shelter about 6 years ago. He is a 50-50 mix of Yorkshire terrier and poodle, with a few smaller strange breeds.

His look in the following picture earned him the designation as the poster dog in a Denver dog walk called the Furry Scurry, with picture t-shirts and all.



This same look has earned him hundreds of 'boy is he cute' on our daily walks. Even more common are smiles on walkers we meet. A few weeks ago, in a farmers market a woman came up to me and said, "he made my day".

He is way more than a pretty face, as he has developed quite a vocal vocabulary to provide individual vocalizations depending upon which friend is coming to the door for a visit. His most astounding communications are the very strong sneezes whenever he likes what we are about to do, especially going for a walk.

Soon after we moved into the house I was at my computer, and he was sitting nearby. My phone made a special notification beep that comes when the tracker on Carey's phone indicates that she is coming home. Percy jumped up, gave a big sneeze and ran to the patio door to be let out so he could run over to the car to greet her.

When anyone is in the kitchen preparing food, he is right there observing every hand movement. When the 3 of us are having a conversation, he is right beside us and moving attention to whomever is talking.

Another thing he does is to observe me picking up a set of books to return to the library. He immediately jumps up and heads for the patio door because he knows the library and the short walk I will take him on in a nearby park.

Percy 'hunts' for scents and animals like I 'hunt' for books to read

Going on a walk with Percy is fascinating. His undivided attention is on leading the way with stops only for certain scents which cause him to leave a mark, or for a glimpse of a rabbit, or a squirrel. There are 6 nature walks I can take him to and each of them have branching paths, or footbridges to cross.

He usually pauses at such path choices, looks at me for permission to choose one to pursue, or picks one himself because of previous memories. When a choice is made, he enthusiastically jumps on the path. Sometimes with a big sneeze.

His interaction with dogs we meet is interesting, as he pretty much ignores them with his own purposes. However, if a dog comes upon us from behind by surprise Percy launches directly at them. He has done this with large and small dogs alike.

Often a dog/dog owner wants to get acquainted, but I have learned it never ends well so I just say 'Percy isn't friendly'. In my memory Percy has only made touching noses friendly with an elderly dog behind a fence that he would always visit if it was there when we went by.

His choice to go down a path I equate to my going to a library to search for books, or more commonly reviewing a list of books on another members recent books to see if I might want to read one.

Too cute for words.

>2 Taphophile13: I see that we share an interest in the origins of humans and studies about them. Really fascinating subjects and I will take a look at books related to that subject that I can 'borrow' from you.

One book you might take a look at is Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art by Rebecca Wragg Sykes

>1 JoeB1934: I had similar problems with my late Greyhound Lurcher, Bobby. He was a rescue dog and never sociable. He was fairly aloof even with us and I had to use the'he's not friendly' message very frequently. In addition to this I had to muzzle him to prevent him eating grass which made him ill and this gave people the impression that he was a dangerous dog. He was not easy, but I still miss him.

Percy and Bobby both sound great. We have five dogs, and since we live on twelve acres we don't have to take them for walks - they're running around with each other all day. I'd love to be able to take a rescue dog or two, but while they've never shown any aggression towards humans, our pack is deeply unsociable towards other animals. Over the years they've killed a number of dogs, as well as a baboon, a goat, a cat, a hyrax and six Egyptian cobras, plus quite a few rabbits, rats, lizards, birds and harmless snakes. They've had a few scraps with marauding baboons and the baboons have always come off worse. Anything small(ish) and furry is at risk! Last year a cobra managed to kill one dog before being killed itself, which is why we only have five now.

Our alpha dog is a ten year old pedigree Rhodesian Ridgeback matriarch. Sadly her mate died of tick fever a few years back. Ridgebacks are superb dogs. We now have a youngish male who is a cross between a Rottweiler, a Boerboel and a Great Dane. He and the Ridgeback weigh in at 40 kg each. We also have a German Shepherd cross, and a couple of more mixed dogs with various amounts of Ridgeback, Rottweiler and Great Dane in them. I've had all of them since they were puppies, and I think that's the other reason why I'm reluctant to take an adult rescue dog. With such large and powerful animals, I need to be sure that I can control them, and you can never tell whether a rescue dog has been abused and how it might react in certain circumstances.

>5 John5918: WOW! those are some very serious dogs! Killing cobras, or even being around them is shocking to me. It sounds like your dogs have the perfect owners.

I neglected to describe the Percy routine for going on a walk, which is quite interesting.

He comes to my bedroom/office around 5AM and quietly gets into his own bed there. He doesn't disturb me as I go about my morning routine of coffee, cereal and news reading on my computer.

When I start to get dressed, he becomes excited, but doesn't move out of his bed. When I start to put on walking shoes he leaps up and launches himself to get on my lap for pets and his request to get going. Sometimes I am not quite sitting down and the landing on me is a bit of a scramble.

When I get out his gear he starts sneezing, light barking and bungee jumping as we head for the door. I drive the car 1-3 miles to get to the path I have chosen. He loves to put his head out the window, of course as most dogs do. By the way, recently I learned that dogs do this to capture scents, mostly.

After the walk as we arrive home, he is extremely anxious to get out and run to the house to see each family member with sneezes, etc.

When I get into the house and go sit in the chair at the computer, he anxiously comes to jump on my lap to stay for a short time before he goes off to other family members.

My interpretation of this ending is that he is saying thank-you for the walk.

>4 Maura49: My other daughter, Shelley also had a Greyhound rescue dog that the family loved greatly for years. I don't remember those social issues, but here was quite a series of health problems.

A friend of mine has a potcake rescue from Turks and Caicos who smiles a lot with people he likes and sneezes several times when he's very pleased to see someone. He has a winning personality, which I expect is often the case with street dogs who survive.

>9 librorumamans: That sounds very plausible. Does the dog have separation anxiety like Percy has?

>10 JoeB1934:

I don't believe so. They had an older dog when they got him as a puppy, so he lived with a companion animal for his first years. I expect that helps.

>8 JoeB1934: Yes; Bobby died from heart disease and I believe that heart problems are quite common with greyhounds. He also had terrible digestive issues and we spent a fortune on the most expensive hypo-allergenic food on the market. Then there were the vet's bills!

>12 Maura49: Sound like an exact replica of my daughter's experience. Even the vet bills!

>1 JoeB1934: What a lovely dog and glad that you have time for him! I am also starting to prefer audio books because I can listen to them while I walk (2-5 miles per day), drive, cook, or clean house.

>14 Tess_W: Were you able to see the Percy picture today? Due to the DS attack on LT none of my images are available.

>15 JoeB1934: Yes, I can see Percy in your initial post!

"His choice to go down a path I equate to my going to a library to search for books, or more commonly reviewing a list of books on another members recent books to see if I might want to read one."

That's a great analogy! Do you have any Little Free Libraries on your route? That would make it a reality!

I don't have to tell you how adorable he is.

>17 vwinsloe: We have some in the neighborhood, but our walks are usually in nature preserves, or the Highline trail which runs along a canal in Denver that is a favorite of walkers, runners and bikers.

Great stories of the family dogs.

>18 JoeB1934: I take walks like that with my dog, too, but I haven't thought of listening to audiobooks on them yet, since I need to give him my full attention so that he doesn't get into trouble. Maybe when he's older. Since I retired, I miss listening to audiobooks as I did when I had to drive for work.

>20 vwinsloe: Are there frequent encounters with other dogs and your dog wants to interact with them? I choose to walk where dogs aren't too engaging. Even so, I can get surprised by a dog suddenly appearing behind me while I am engrossed in a book.

Percy is on an extendable leash, so I have to anticipate an upcoming interaction with runners, dogs etc.

I no longer can read print books, so audio is my only choice. I learned to appreciate the added value in audio decades ago when I read Scottish mysteries by Ian Rankin.

>21y. Yes, my dog weighs 117 pounds and I am 109 pounds so I don't have control, just suggestions. ;) He has flipped both me and my 200 pound husband over a couple of times on a retractable leash so we stopped using it when he got to be 7 or 8 months old. Now that he has good recalls, we walk him mostly in "off leash" areas where he can run. He is getting much better now that he is almost 4 years old, and is finally learning to behave himself. We got him in January 2020, so he didn't get much socialization for the better part of his first year, and was just way too excited to see people and other dogs.

I love audiobooks, too; it was really my preferred way to consume nonfiction books. Now I mostly listen to podcasts when busy with my hands making dinner or folding laundry, because audiobooks get too chopped up when listened to in short bites, and I lose the thread.

>22 vwinsloe:

My two biggest dogs weigh in at 40 kg each, and I'm a little over 80 kg, so I can handle one at a time but if they both pull together, like you I can only make suggestions! A few years ago they broke my ankle. My wife and I had been out for a walk, and when we got home they were so excited to see us that they leapt on the gate just as I was bending down and slipping the bolt. It caught me off balance, knocking me over gently but at an odd angle, and my ankle bone twisted and snapped. To their credit they were very penitent when they realised I was hurt!

That story continues as next morning we decided my wife had better drive me to hospital in the Land Rover. It was rainy season, and we got less than a kilometre from the house before the car bogged down in mud and my wife couldn't extricate it, so I had to climb over into the driver's seat, broken ankle and all, chivvy the car out of that particular ditch, and then drive for the next 25 km of mud road until we reached the tarmac, when she took over again. When the doctor saw the x-ray he was amazed that I had been able to walk let alone drive, but driving off road you only need one active foot for the clutch pedal, while the broken foot can rest lightly on the throttle pedal. No need to touch the brake pedal at all as you use the gears for slowing down. Don't know what we'd have done if it had been the opposite ankle that was broken!

>22 vwinsloe: My Grandson and his wife own a Newfi that is about 110 lbs. and very friendly. My daughter was taking care of the dog out walking and got bowled over with an injury. So, her husband does all the walking now when they are dog-sitting.

>23 John5918: adrenaline is also an effective pain killer! But it's surprising how often even small dogs can cause an injury. The really small ones are tripping hazards.,

>24 JoeB1934: My dog's a Bernese Mountain Dog. A lot of people make a mistake thinking that they are calm, quiet dogs. People who have them have a saying, "3 years a puppy. 3 years a good dog. 3 years an old dog." So just imagine puppy behavior in a 115 pound dog. Even when well trained, they are going to have their moments. I have really seen his behavior change over the last year since he turned 3, so the adage seems to bear out.

These stories about living with a large dog makes me realize how much I love Percy's size.

As a child I owned a number of dogs common to Wyoming, what we called sheepdogs, but I don't know anything about their real breed.

My last dog was a German Shepard that we bought, not knowing any better, from a breeder in the mid-west. He arrived totally dehydrated by the rail trip. My Mother talked to a local vet and he advised feeding him Pablum like for children. Gradually she brought him back and he was a fabulous companion for me as I wandered around town and in the Wyoming desert.

In retrospect, I didn't really appreciate him enough. Our dogs were outside dogs and rarely came in the house. They could go into the basement furnace room for heat in the winter. King was very smart and actually brought other dogs home, including a Chow and another sheepdog that the neighbor kept for many years as her companion.

I was responsible for feeding him from scaps my brother brought home from a butcher shop and keeping him in water to drink. When I failed to provide water, he picked up the metal water dish and took it next door to clatter on their porch to ask for a refill.

I have seen him enter into a dog-fight among several dogs and break it up to rescue a dog in trouble. He was an everyday companion always at my side and as a child I didn't understand what that meant.

King disappeared the winter I was off at college. At that time there were small herds of sheep on the outskirts of town and in the past I had found him watching those sheep from a distance but never being aggressive to them.

Eventually someone in town said they heard that a sheepherder had killed King.

Percy is the first dog since that time that has become a true companion.

My wife bought a German Shepard early in our marriage for me, but I never became attached to the dog. It kept running away and eventually we stopped looking for it.

That last dog was about 55 years ago, and I haven't actually thought about owning a dog until 6 years ago when we moved in with our daughter Carey who is the owner of Percy.

His value to us throughout Covid and every day now is incredible. In a later post I will talk more about my life with Percy.

Just look at his picture at the top of my original post and you will understand everything about him.

>36 Your post about King brought a book to mind. Have you listened to Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of the Dead? The English version is a translation of a Polish author, and it can seem a little obtuse at times, but the payoff in the end is worth it. It's a mystery of sorts, and I think you'd like it if you haven't read it yet.

>27 vwinsloe: Yes, I read the book last year and it was an extraordinary book. Puzzling pretty much all the time but wanting to go forward to see where it ends up. Quite a large amount of magical realism.

I am interested that you read it as not many people want to read "a mystery of sorts" and that is what I always am looking for.

I just looked at the books you and I share, and it is only 91, but I can see that you are certainly on somewhat of a similar track to mine.

That book falls right in the middle of my favorite book category, called Literary Mysteries.

If you're interested in that subject, you can read my current chat at:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/351155#n8229636

You've both intrigued me! I've just ordered Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead on Kindle and I look forward to reading it. Thanks!

>28 JoeB1934:. I don't like mysteries as a genre, and that's probably why I liked Drive Your Plows Over the Bones of the Dead. I suppose the subgenre of Literary Mysteries is not quite the same as the "cookbook" or "cozy" mysteries that I dislike, but I just don't seek them out.

>30 vwinsloe: I understand where you are coming from. For most people they equate 'mystery' with crime, thriller, etc. My interest is closer to the word 'suspense' which provides an unanswered question to keep me going.

I find the combination of 'literary fiction' and 'mystery' an ideal combination. Plows was that for me.

>29 John5918: I hope that you enjoy it as much as we did!

I'll enthusiastically up-vote Drive your plow!