Will the real personality please stand up?

Tucker:  There was a TV show where different people would say they were John Doe. After a while someone would say, "Will the real John Doe please stand up!"

If a person has different personalities, can you say, "Will the real personality please stand up?" (If it's a dog would you say, "Will the real dogality please down-stay?")

We saw a dog at MaxFund today. "We" is me, the Human Assistant, and his son.

H.A. mentioned the dog in the last blog and this is his picture. His name is Ringo. Not a Siberian Husky name, but oh well.

H.A. said all four of us had red fur and blue eyes. H.A. said his son has a red beard. It's not a nice Sibe red, though. Hard to tell with it trimmed short. I wonder if it's that way for the show ring.

H.A. said his own beard used to be red. It's white now. But he said it was shiny coppery red. His mother would grab it when she was with her friends and say it was her pot scrubber.

H.A. said he hated that. But his mother is 91 now and has Alzheimer's Disease and doesn't remember it. So he said he forgives her. He said that humans can be mean to other humans just like some of them are to animals.

But everyone who meets her at nursiing homes and hospitals says she is very sweet and cute and funny. Huh!

He said there was a mean streak in his dam's side of his pedigree. But that bringing in his sire's line eliminated the behavioral problem. He needs to ask around! But anyway it doesn't seem to show up in his F1 descendents. Wonder what the F2 will be like? If there will be any.

Please make a pledge to MaxFund - a no-kill animal shelter and low-cost vet clinic - which cares for sick and injured pets that are homeless!

So back at MaxFund. One of the kennel staff told H.A. to be careful because Ringo is dog-aggressive. I have heard that when he is let out of his kennel he runs to a neighbor and bends down and sticks out his head and barks. And then he runs to another neighbor and does that. And then another neighbor.

The H.A. says it's pretty amusing. But the staff see Ringo every day. So you can't go by what H.A. says.

So we two dogs and the two humans met in front of MaxFund. Two of us were on leashes. I won't even ask you to guess which two.

Ringo must think he's a young alpha. He put his head over my shoulder a couple of times and a paw on my back. Once or twice I gave him an annoyed glance. But not like I do to Jaeger-Gregor. Mostly I just ignored Ringo except when we were facing each other with our faces side by side. And then I kinda watched him.

This may sound like I accepted him as being the boss of me. So why did he end up licking my mouth a few times? Pups do that to their parents. And dogs do that to humans when we want them to like us. (Not all humans like to be licked. They say, "You don't know where that tongue's been!" Their loss.)

Anyway, no. Ringo is not the boss of me.

We walked around the block. It was hot today! But there was enough interesting stuff to keep me and Ringo occupied while we walked. Neither one of us payed any attention to the other.

Then we went into a big yard and the humans unhooked our leashes. H.A. says that sometimes dog behavior is different on a leash than off. But it wasn't for us. We just poked around separately to see what was in the yard.

Then H.A. took Ringo back to his kennel. Then we got in the hot car and drove home. I drank a lot of water. Then I went outside. Then I came back in and drank more water. Then I went back out. Then I drank some more. Finally that was enough.

I think Human Assistant is planning something. He said he was curious about how I would do with another Sibe. And Ringo too. But I can read humans better than he thinks. He is planning something.

He can't bring Ringo home. The kennel staffer thought that's what he was planning. It's good to see how dogs get along before you get another one. But no. There are already too many dogs here. ::sends evil thoughts to two black dogs::

We shall see. I'll sleep on it and let you know. Meanwhile I will wonder what other personalities H.A. has.

-- photo of Ringo by Nicole Howard