Dodger's Page

(After playing in the BBQ ashes.)

This is Dodger. She's a black lab I adopted from the Washington County animal shelter on July 3rd, 1997. She's named after a character from Babylon 5 (of course). The vet thought that she was about six months old when I got her, so I was lucky enough to experience the joys of chewing and housebreaking. What fun! Spoiled? Just because she gets toys like this? Nonsense!

You're the th person to pat Dodger since August 3, 2001. (Unless you're also a dog, and on the Internet who would know?) Turns out, one did: Meet Dodger's virtual friend, Sweetie.

On 7 July 1997, Dodger weighed 53.5 pounds. On July 23, she was 23 inches tall at the shoulder and weighed 56 pounds. On August 15 she weighed 61 pounds. As of October 11 she tipped the scales (and my back) at 69 pounds. Some "puppy!" (Last time I weighed her, she was a bit over 70 pounds, but she should be full-grown by now, shouldn't she???)

Dodger does battle with her natural enemy, the Rain Bird^® sprinkler!

"Cousin" Duke Comes to Visit

Dodger isn't so sure about this... . When is he going to go home?

Duke checks out the back yard in the snow.

Dodger is still somewhat jealous, and tries to crowd in if I pet Duke, but she has already taught him some of the house rules. For instance: "If you go outside, the human is required to give you a treat."

Here are some more pix:

I came home from work one day to find that Dodger had eaten the couch... . Dodger decided that she liked the futon better like this... . Dodger "helps" me try to make a steel-pan drum. (That's a ball-peen hammer she's holding.) Dodger hoping for a ride in one of two nonfunctional trucks...

The Damage to Date (As of ) telephone handset cord (twice) aluminum cans (about 8) plastic forced-air heat deflector newspapers (two) toilet paper roll paperback books (six) extension cord hatrack hats (two) roll of quarters bathroom wastebasket package of "craft sticks" miniblinds (two) butane BBQ lighter wooden instrument box hardcover books (four) aquarium power cord video tapes (six) electric pencil sharpener pulley to the family room drapery cord speaker wire vehicle service manual welcome mat carpet padding battery-operated alarm clock LPs (eight) -- yes, vinyl, archaic as that may seem A/V input cable for the computer (good thing it wasn't one of the CAT-5 cables!) $28 dog bed (within 12 hours of purchase) audio tapes (five) flashlight night light sliding screen door (bent to Hell when she ran into it at about 100 mph) Cerwin Vega badges from the bedroom speakers wind-up alarm clock family room drapery cord metal replacement pulley to the family room drapery cord pully to the living room drapery cord disembowled her "baby" living room drapes disembowled "baby" #2, although she still carries its pelt around couch cushion (one half) futon/couch lead weight from the front-room curtains tore a 12-foot strip out of the middle of the living room carpet severely damaged the traverse rod by pulling on the living room drapes mortally wounded the traverse rod by pulling on the family room drapes tore the sliding screen door to shreds while tied up on the deck shredded the moulding on the corner of the house while tied up on the deck trashed a styrofoam hose bib insulator while on her trolley run in the back yard dug and chewed her way through rotten boards in the fence to greet me at the front door apparently ate an 8-mm bolt while I was working on the Hyundai. (At least I couldn't find it. Hopefully it will all come out right in the end.)

Dodger has also nibbled on the arm of the couch that she's theoretically not allowed to be on, carried the alarm clocks out of the bedroom and into the living room, and managed to get a heat-register vent out of the dining room floor and onto the waterbed. (I suspect she was lying on the floor and got her tags caught in the last.) She's also pulled the tape-motion control knobs off of both VCRs, but luckily didn't have time to chew them up.

Dodger's medley of destruction...

After I came home to find who knows how many thousands of dollars of damage to the carpet, I reluctantly borrowed a kennel box. Dodger now spends my working hours in "jail." Her dislike of the box grew progressively greater for the first week, then, on the second week she decided she liked it, and now sprints for the kennel when I tell her to "go to jail." Weird. (I can only think that in her mind it's become her den.) My hope is that she'll get in the habit of sleeping while I'm at work, and eventually the box can be dispensed with.
Postscript: I started leaving the "jail" door open in August of '98 with no destructive consequences, and eventually returned it in September or so. Dodger is a Good Girl!

On the Bright Side

At the moment, Dodger's main hobbies are "talking" while I'm on the phone and not paying attention to her, and retrieving stovewood and other items from the back yard and proudly presenting them to me. ("Good dog, but we don't need any more firewood!") In the fall of '97 Dodger and I went on a hike with a couple of my old College Buds. As you can see, it was hard to keep her attention. (Being in a, shall we say "vulnerable" condition, she'd run ahead of us on the trail 100 feet, pee, and repeat. I wasn't able to convince her that she wasn't going to find a boyfriend on South Fork Mountain... .)

Boyfriends won't be a problem in the future: Dodger went to the doctor in November... . "Wait a minute! I thought you said I was gonna get paid!"

In 2006 Dodger was diagnosed with bone degeneration in her left hip joint, and was on medication thereafter; at first Rimadyl for inflamation, and later Tramadol as well for pain. In early 2008, she started showing more signs of pain, and we increased her dosage of Tramadol. In April, she began showing less and less interest in food -- a sure sign of trouble in a dog that had been known to nick goodies off of the coffee table while unobserved, and who always sat at attention in the kitchen when someone was cooking.

Finally, on May 17, she came to the point where, when she did stand up, she acted as though she was afraid to walk because it hurt too much. So, as I had to do when I first brought her home from the shelter, I lifted her into the truck, and she went for one last ride.

She will always be remembered; she will always be missed.