Samhain Publishing Ltd Weblog

Dogus Maximus

Meet Tank. 135 lbs of muscle and dog kisses. Whenever we go out in public, people point at us—or rather, they point at ‘Tinky’. He’s probably the biggest Rottweiler we’ve ever seen and a little intimidating when you get up close, but he’s got a heart the size of Texas.

Tinky was a rescue, as most of our dogs have been. As usual, I had to be coerced into taking him in. Not that I was opposed to rescuing a dog. I just didn’t want another one—especially such a BIG one.

The moment he climbed out of the cargo van, you could see the whole vehicle rise up. He was a monster! All legs and head. Tank was still a young dog, maybe a couple of years old who had yet to fill out to his mature weight. But even then he was huge.

It didn’t take long for Tinky to become my sweetheart. He was so eager to please and grateful for any affection. Much to Greg’s dismay, Tank didn’t like to roughhouse. As a matter of fact, he avoids scuffles whenever possible. With the possible exception of a giant French poodle that he met in obedience school, Tinky has been the perfect gentlemen.

We have it on good authority the French poodle had said something slanderous about poor Tinky’s pedigree, and well, you know how these international incidents get started.

So when Greg said it would be a good idea for me to keep Tank as protection, I scoffed. Yeah, right! Tinky is a creampuff. He hates getting into trouble and would rather have his toenails painted than scare off a predator. I was pretty sure I was going to be the one rescuing him.

Then one day, Greg and I were goofing around and he started tickling me. Before I knew it, we were play-fighting and carrying on like 12-year olds. Greg had pulled me onto the bed and I was doing my best to get the upper hand. He’s a master at finding all my ticklish spots and I was screaming like a banshee.

All of a sudden my ‘creampuff’ jumps up on the bed and CAREFULLY takes Greg’s arm in his mouth and draws it away from me. There was no biting, no growling, just a very determined: “Okay, that’s quite enough” look.

We both stared at him dumbstruck. In all our years of raising dogs, we’d never had one who could reason things out like this. Tank was genuinely concerned that I was being hurt, and yet he knew he couldn’t countermand ‘daddy’ either. So he did the only thing he could and wedged himself in between us, all the while holding Greg’s arm.

Needless to say, he got lots of praise from both of us for being so sensible.

Flash forward four years. Greg and I are again in a tickle-wrestle and I decide to test Tank by screaming for help. What does he do?

He jumps up on the bed and burrows in between us, giving me and dad a big sloppy kiss, each in turn. Yeah, that’s my boy.

Maria Zannini
http://mariazannini.blogspot.com/
TOUCH OF FIRE, coming May 2008