Our Dog Rudy

Our Dog Rudy

anonymous  /  January 13, 2015

Rudy is our 6 year old Black Labrador and in real life he is a cartoon character. He is a wonderful dog and is like a son to me which is nice since I am the token male in our family of a wife and 2 daughters.

The Rudy Greeting

When any of us comes home after a long time away, say 5 minutes, the greeting from Rudy is effusive and there is nothing one can say to reduce the extensive greeting. “Nice Rudy,” “good boy,” “happy to see you too,” “wow, some greeting,” Rudy, enough.” None of this has any impact…the Greeting Tape is playing in Rudy’s head and he is going to see the entire routine to a happy conclusion.

Eating in Front of Rudy

Is almost not worth doing. He can be asleep several rooms away or outside playing with a toy. As soon as the refrigerator door open or a molecule of food odor is released, Rudy appears and prowls like a Great White Shark. I hum the theme from Jaws when he does this. I tell him to go away, he wags his tail and looks me directly in the eye trying to hypnotize me into sharing. I tell him I’ve really had it with his behavior and then he drools. The drooling is annoying and sort of gross and so to stop the drooling, I give him a piece of whatever I’m eating which could be an apple, a carrot, potato and/or crackers. Then thinking about my psychology background, I have to admit I’ve been had and conditioned to responds to his drool. Rudy drools, I give him food. Pavlov.

Rudy in the Water

Being a Lab, Rudy is awesome in the water. No matter the water temperature, he is going to swim. We were at my sister-in-law’s house in Walnut Creek for Thanksgiving and there is a pool in the back yard. Rudy (he often gets invited to family events), without a moment’s hesitation, immediately jumped into the pool. He could be a swim instructor specializing of course in the dog paddle stroke.

The Worst Thing Rudy Has Ever Done, So Far

Being a Lab, Rudy is fond of food, very very fond of food. I was in Truckee practicing for a cycling time trial. Normally, I would leave Rudy on the deck but it was lightly snowing, my family was not there this weekend and I knew I’d be gone for several hours. I opted to leave him in the house. 20 miles later, I was thinking leaving him in the house was probably not a great idea but too late. I finally got home, cold and wet. Rudy had gotten into the pantry where food was stored..food was spread out from kitchen to living room.

Rudy had eaten:
1 box of raw pasta
several rolls
1.5 bags of marshmallows
a bag of peanuts
Chewed through a can of tomato sauce (to go with the uncooked pasta)

Rudy looked me right in the eye and started wagging his tale. I suggested to him that at this point, I did not want to even make eye contact with him. Rudy agreed and for emphasis then did what you would have expected. I spent the rest of the weekend shampooing carpets and washing floors. I was reluctant to tell my family what had happened since I knew they would have questioned my limited intelligence for having left him in the house in the first place.

Rudy in the Morning

6:00am or so, sometimes earlier but rarely later, Rudy walks over to our bed and nudges me awake with his nose. Most of the time, since it is still dark, I can’t even see him but I know he is there. I scratch his head, wiggle his ears and listen to his tail wag. Not a bad way to start the day.

Rudy’s Photo

I could tell Rudy did not want me to use the photo above. He is embarrassed to be seen drinking from a human fountain and would have preferred to be photo’d drinking from his water dish.