My relationship with STINKY

Some of you may be wondering exactly what my relationship with STINKY is since he's been with us for a while now. So I have decided to tell you exactly how I feel about STINKY. My feelings towards him at home (my territory) is different than my feelings towards him when we're outside (neutral territory).

AT HOME:

Yes, I used to hate him. I hated his smell, he had the weird baby smell that I hate so much even before he came to live with us. His breath smelled the worst. You may recall, I refused to touch anything (food/toys) he's touched, I tried to sniff out a stink free trail before actually walking in MY house.

Well, things have changed a little since (key words: "a little"). I still don't like his breath, but I will eat his food, and take toys he's touched before into the yard so the rain can wash the stink off them. (mum: yup, lots of wet, ruined toys.)




What I'm trying to say is, STINKY's presence in the house is basically "insignificant" to me. Here is one example to demonstrate what I mean by insignificant:

If I have to get from point A to point B, and STINKY is somehow standing in between point A and B. I will not change my planned route, I will not change my stride. If my stride misses him, he's considered lucky, if my stride hits him, or I step on him, or I run over him, well, that's just his luck.


OUTDOORS:

Now outdoors is a little different. When we're outside, STINKY is part of my pack, just like mum and Gerogie. Since I'm the pack leader (mum: no comment..), he is my responsibility to protect and discipline.

Here are two incidents that happened recently:

Incident 1

Mum took me and STINKY to walk the trails at the university endowment land. STINKY tries to copy everything I do. I pick up a pine cone, he picks up a pine cone. I sniff a tree, he sniffs the same tree. I poop, he poops. You get the picture.

So when I took my usual detours into the forest, he followed me too. Unfortunately, his legs were too short, he was too un-coordinated to jump over or duck under fallen trees and branches. By the time I came out of the forest and met up with mum on the main trail, STINKY was no where behind me. So mum and I walked back a little while she called "STINKY....STINKY..." (mum: actually, I recall calling "JAFFA".) Mum told me to "GO FIND him", so I ran ahead. I heard STINKY whining and I knew he was not far from there. I looked back at mum to let her know I had found him. I guess STINKY knew I was there, because he started making his way towards the trail and I could see branches moving.

As I was waiting for mum to catch up, a lady walked by. She looked nice, but she heard STINKY's whining, and decided that she was going to steal him!!!!! Seriously, I'm not joking, she started making her way into the forest while calling STINKY to "come on, this way". When I saw that, I decided nobody was going to take MY STINKY (not that I like him or anything, but he was part of MY pack). So I ran towards the lady and stopped in front of her. I told her "GRRRRRRxcuse me" before jumping over branches to meet up with STINKY and lead him out. The lady was smart, she didn't follow me to try and steal STINKY. When I finally brought STINKY back to mum, I heard the lady talking to mum. She was saying "what a great MUM to protect her baby", and she also asked if STINKY was from my first litter.

I can't tell you how offended I was she actually thought I would produce something this smelly. So once I saw mum was there, I paid no attention to the lady and walked away while she petted STINKY. Thank doG mum did tell the lady I was NOT STINKY's mum.

(mum: Sunshade is naturally fairly aloof to strangers. Once she saw I was in charge, talking to the woman, she didn't see the need to protect Jaffa anymore.)


Incident 2

Happened in the trails too. We met a BIG, red, 10 year old Doberman named "Taz". Mum had known Taz's owner for a long time, but hadn't seen them for quite a while so they started to blab. Taz and I said our proper hellos, and I moved on. I have to admit, he was very handsome, and it was hard for me to pay attention to anything else when there was that big red muscle butt right in front of me. However, I kept my composure (mum: for once you did around a handsome male.....), and pretended I was sniffing the trees and the ground.

STINKY was initially shocked at the sight of this giant Dobie, so he stayed back. But it didn't take him long to figure out MY Taz .... I mean, Taz was a gentle giant. When it became obvious that Taz wasn't going to eat him, STINKY decided to be his annoying self and started jumping up on Taz while licking and biting at his face.

Kinda like what he does to me, (except he knows not to jump on me, OR ELSE!)




When it became apparant that MY Taz, er.. Taz was too gentle to tell STINKY off, I decided I couldn't just let STINKY embarrass me like that, especially in front of a BIG handsome gentleman. (mum: She's got a thing for BIG handsome boys...) So I went over, pushed STINKY off Taz and gave him a stern "Sunshade LOOK". STINKY had seen this look many many times before, so he got it right away and started behaving. I was pleased. (mum: yes, so pleased you started flirting big time, sticking your butt way up in the air, hopping around poor Taz while doing your girly barks. I'm not sure who Taz thought was more annoying, you or Jaffa.....)

(mum: I know Sunshade made it sound like she was being a good sister, teaching her little brother the proper dog manner. She could very well be doing just that, however, I do have a slight suspicion that she was trying to keep Jaffa away from Taz so she could have Taz all to herself. This sounds more like my girl, especially around handsome males.)

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All in all, STINKY doesn't exist inside, and it's not too bad having a little sidekick around while I'm out.




Especially when he stands guard while I'm in my vulnerable position...........