Annie Rhiannon

Thursday, January 10, 2008

He is a dog, not a human

I'm at my mum and dad's house in Wales, trying to get my essays written for the beginning of term. I'm spending the week with them and the dog, Pablo. It's going to be peaceful and cosy and they're not going to annoy me at all.

"Would you like me to make you something to eat?" calls my dad, warmly, from the kitchen. "A little snack perhaps? Or maybe I should light the fire for you?"

That sounds nice, I think, before he calls me "baby" and I realise he's talking to the dog. Pablo is the size of a small horse and far too big for my parents to be calling "baby". Who do they think he is? Their American girlfriend?

Pablo and I tolerate each other, but have never really got on. He turned up after our first dog, my beloved Owain, died in a tragic road accident. Having a dog called "Owain" in Wales was like having a dog called "Stuart" in England, but my parents, being foreign, didn't know any better when they named him.

Pablo, on the other hand, arrived with his fancy exotic name (which, in Spain, is probably also like being called "Stuart") long after I'd left home, and has never really gotten used to having a sister around the place when I come back to visit. I "sit in his seat", apparently, which isn't an old rug in the hallway like you'd expect, but the entire three-seater sofa in the living room. He just eyes me from his new place, on the floor where he belongs, and waits for me to finish my essay so he can get on the internet to check the ferry times, to try and deduce when I might be going home.

15 comments:

  1. Essential holiday reading:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_Pablo_%28book%29

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  2. I know where you're coming from with the 'not getting on' - I had the same relationship with one of our dogs. I bossed her around and tried to get her to make me cups of tea, she refused. She ended up getting put down for chasing and attacking sheep, I'm still alive.

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  3. In my sister's house, when you sit on her dog's chair- which is also the three-seater sofa- the dog sits at your feet and tries to nudge you off the sofa with his head. His head is bony and it really hurts. Everyone inevitably relinquishes the seat.

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  4. Having a dog called "Owain" in Wales was like having a dog called "Stuart" in England...

    I did LOL.

    Tsk, sibling rivalry with the dog. You shouldn't have to put up with it.

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  5. Poor little Pablito. I'm sure he doesn't mean you any harm. What kind of 'little horse' is he?

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  6. I never let the dog on the Internet. Not after the last time. Black male. Into collars and leather leads. Seeks bitches for outdoor sex.

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  7. Quite frankly I would appreciate if my cats chose the sofa or my bed to sleep on. But as I was reading your post, one of them climbed up the shelf, removed the lid from the box full of my school notes, kicked out some of those and made herself a cosy place to sleep in. She looks so adorable though that I'm torned between the urge to throw her out of the window and kiss the top of her grey head.

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  8. We have so much in common: my mum also has a dog that's more like a horse and disobedient (spoilt) to the point of stressing me out whenever I visit her.

    Last Christmas was slightly more tolerable as she has got too weighed down by human food to be able to jump at you but I am still expected to refer to Martha as my sister. I don't, of course. I don't even acknowledge her, which makes me feel rotten but I just can't see the appeal with these mutts.

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  9. Pablo monopolises the three-piece sofa? A spoilt canine indeed. They'll have to nip that in the bud, otherwise the next thing you know he'll want a stretch limo and a time-share in Ibiza.

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  10. Late night MSN convo with LC:

    LC: Are your parents arty and intellectual?
    Annie: Pablo was already named when they got him.
    LC: Ah.
    Annie: That's why they call him 'baby' instead, it's not as naff.

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  11. Must remember to wait until I get home before reading your posts. My coworkers think I'm odd for 'spontaneously' bursting into laughter. :-)

    Love to Pablo and the folks!

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  12. He's gorgeous! Is he a Bernese Mountain Dog?

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  13. It sounds like a scene from the show 'Dog whisperer'.

    --- OMG, We've been living with a DOG!!!!! ----

    ha ha ha

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  14. Sounds like 'your' dog should be writing your essays - a truly symbiotic relationship, you get to read his "indeed" preambles and he gets rid of you!

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  15. Yes, I've got him googling Aristotle's Poetics as I speak.

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