Location Specific Social Networking
Jul 29th, 2008 by Eats Wombats
A hat tip to Jeremy for this amusing rumination on the meaning of the word down.
Strictly speaking, the author doesn’t take Larson’s point of view on dog comprehension
but his contention about dogs not asking questions is only technically correct. We’ve all known intelligent, telepathic, face-reading, emotional blackmailing artists of canine persuasion who didn’t need to utter even a single word to pose a question.
Elsewhere I came across the idea that our canine friends have been doing something we’re only now doing with technology: location specific social networking (e.g., when your cellphone tells you someone you know is in the bar you’re passing). Dogs have been doing this with lamposts for a long time. Of course, we’ve had graffiti.
You’ve seen the BEWARE OF THE DOG sign annotated
He is very sarcastic
A cat perhaps. Here’s why everyone needs a dog.
They have ways of making you laugh, even if they can’t talk.
We had a dachshund like that once … but no machine. Reminds me about the old joke about the difference between a street trader and a dachshund, but we won’t go there.
The dog has the kid very well trained by the end.
Thanks for the laugh.
It’s a breed with character to match its improbable and faintly ridiculous appearance. We found a lost one as kids, a long haired black one with his name on his collar (he was delighted we knew his name). It took a couple of weeks to track down the owners, a German family who CRIED with joy. Sometime later we acquired a red longhaired one of our own. It had a very happy disposition and was excellent for warming one’s knees in an armchair on a winter’s day.
In general I like bigger dogs but, despite the awful purpose for which they were bred, the dachshund is a hard dog to dislike. I still regret not having a camera when I met one in Regent’s Park a while ago carrying his rubber chicken in cheerful earnest, a bit like that Cartier-Bresson photo of the little boy with the bottle of wine, only better.