A Boy and His Dog

Posted: 30th April 2012 by Richard Hacker in Creativity, Dogs, Life, Novel, Uncategorized
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A Boy and His Dog

I have a constant writing companion who keeps me in the present, offers positive support day and night, stands by me on the good days when I’m writing like a demon and on those days where I just can’t seem to shift into gear, hangs out with me while I work, takes walks to clear my mind, licks me whenever the opportunity arises and brings toys throughout the day with the implicit contract that I will either: a. hold on to the toy while we growl at each other in a tug of war, or b. throw said toy across the room so she can hunt it down.  Yes, my writing companion is a dog.  A 9 month old English Springer Spaniel named Jazz.  She’s a happy bundle of overflowing energy in a fur coat, always up for walking, running and playing.  And to date, I have not found the bottom of her apparently infinite energy source.  I’m thinking of hooking her up to the power grid to make a few bucks off the utility.

Why Jazz?  I met her when she was a month old and already she had that crazy, creative spirit of improvisation. This girl never plans anything.  She takes live on in the present and makes it up as she goes along. Sometimes that leads to some unfortunate choices.  Besides “here Jazz,” my most frequent comment to her is “leave it.”  And to her credit, she doesn’t always listen to me.  Sometimes I want her to “leave it” because “it” is gross and nasty.  But sometimes I just don’t want the hassle — a piece of electrical tape, a quarter of a torn up tennis ball, a snail, a clump of grass, a flower — the list is endless.  Sure, four out of five humans think chewing on a clump of grass will lead to dirt in the mouth and muddy paws in the house. But five out of five dogs know the pure pleasure of sweet grass, musty soil and mud between the toes.

I sometimes think I may have lost my mind to bring a puppy in the house.  She requires lots of attention.  However, I also know having her around keeps my feet on the ground.  Writing can be a lonely business. A little unconditional love from Jazz goes a long way.

Comments
  1. Tara Sheets says:

    I agree. A furry ball of energy makes the whole world a little brighter. And the cool thing is that even when I feel gross and nasty and have mud between *my* toes, my dog just thinks I’m that much better 🙂 Can’t beat that!

  2. Melanie Marttila says:

    Nuala’s my companion as well as my blog’s mascot 🙂 Writerly Goodness and the Learning Mutt are both canine alter-egos. That’s how dog-obsessed I am 🙂
    I so get the “leave it” thing. Nuala probably thinks that’s her name!
    Still working on your critique. Trying to do a good one takes a long time (sorry for the pokey).
    Write well and stay sane 🙂
    And more congrats on the additional Showcase nod!
    Mel

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