Guest Blogger--Savannah!

“Savannah…will you write a guest blog for me?”

“WHY?”

“You have nothing else to do.”

Hmm. Good point.

My name is Savannah, daughter of dog-writer extraordinaire Kathy (she wouldn’t compliment herself, so I had to do it), and partial owner of the all-important Dalai Dog. I do behind-the scenes work.

For example, I have just succeeded in forcing Dog into a too-tight black shirt emblazoned with the golden, glistening words “Local Celebrity.” (He IS quite pupular.) Check back for the Podcast of this exciting adventure! (As soon as we can figure out how to download videos from the new camera.)

Worn out after a few fruitless minutes at the beginning of the battle, already nursing a bite to the thumb, I protested, “It doesn’t fit him!”

Mom: “That shirt is for MEDIUM-SIZED dogs. Make it fit!” A verbal example of the side of her that you have never seen before, as she is usually mellow and sharp-witted before writing about Sunny in the Dalai Dog Blog. I, meanwhile, am forced to simply comply because I have no other ways of occupying my time tonight. (I really need to get a life.)

Mom has shown you Dog’s opinion on matters such as Halloween, snow, and the presidential election of 2008. What do I, the low-life stagehand and understudy to usual blogger, Kathy, have to say on the subject of the furry, white animal?

For starters, he is persistent. I am, too; this similarity is number one between us. If you put a beef bone in the middle of a table, four feet off the ground, Dog, at approximately ten inches in height, will find a way to get it—whether his methods be pulling the tablecloth away, pushing a chair over to use as a stepladder, or just crying in that annoying, irresistible high-pitched way that he has until you give in and put the treasure on the floor. I suppose that last one could be attributed to a whining toddler or a bratty teenager who will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

I have the same trait, so I prefer to label it DETERMINATION,


which I understand to be a very good thing among students trying to get into Harvard and business people trying to make a lot of money, but not so much among Dogs and pre-teens who may have other goals in mind.

Secondly, Dog is stubborn. (Which can be roughly translated as “persistent,” and I have just written about that, but…it doesn’t count as a blog entry unless I have more than half a page. Plus, it’s sort of different...sort of.) Now, a lot of the time, he’ll be playing vigorously with a squeaky toy, and after a few minutes, we’ll notice he’s panting. Tongue hanging out of his mouth, breathing like there’s no tomorrow, he’ll just LAY there.

“Get some water, Dog!” we shout, and he gives us a look as if to say, Water? Pshh. That’s not going to help my extreme thirst. We bring him some in a paper cup, and he reluctantly laps it up. Afterwards (clearly not panting anymore), he seemingly says, Okay, maybe it did work. Just that one time. You’re still just a bunch of silly humans. Pompous pooch. We love him anyways, though.

Finally, and very unusually, Dog is an optimist. I cannot claim to be in possession of that same characteristic (I jump back and forth between positive and negative attitudes), but Dog is always looking on the bright side. If it’s rainy and Dog gets fewer walks than usual, he thinks, More inside playtime! If he has to get a bath, he shrugs his doggy shoulders and thinks, At least I get treats afterwards! Of course, like most humans, Dog strives to make sure these less-than-preferable things DON’T happen. But if they must, he rides the wave of life and goes along with them.

So concludes my dog blog, the Dog’s features put into an entry on the Internet. Have you ever read the newspaper? Seen the “fillers,” the pieces that the editors put near the bottoms of the paper, just a few lines of nothing to fill up the page when a journalist hasn’t written enough words in an article? This is basically a 700-word filler, intended to provide entertainment and take up space where my mother decided it was my turn to write. I have to admit: it gave me something to do for a little while, and I did have fun being a guest blogger for The Dalai Dog.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to my nonexistent life. ;)