Bentley the English Bulldog

Sassy waiting for handouts. Bentley, the English Bulldog.


Christmas dinner was at the invitation of our friends living in San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles. Their son and fiance was home for Christmas and brought along their English Bulldog "Bentley".

Bentley, a gentle New Yorker had the attitudes of a "New Yorker" as he lives with his "daddy" in Manhatten. Although of sweet temperment, he was aggressive in attitude. He wanted attention and play. We had brought Sassy the Dog along to the valley and Sassy was disappointed to see another four legged animal at the home of our hosts. Sassy who is a "Southern California" dog with a conservative "OC" outlook, took exception to sharing company with "liberal" New Yorker.

After a few snaps and growls, poor Bentley realized that Sassy was too snobby to play with him and they developed a quiet truce and each staked out part of the kitchen to mooch table scraps.

At this once period in time, a New York liberal and a Orange County (California) conservative found common ground with an uneasy peace (on Earth).

Bicyle riding and blocked Sidewalks

Today I decided to exercise a bit, planning to bike around the neighborhood and not going more than 5 miles. This easy 30 minute jaunt ended within 3 minutes when I took a corner out of a neighborhood passageway between two streets and slammed to a halt with a pickup truck parked blocking the sidewalk and protruding a good 6 feet on to the street.

Stopping quickly wasn't a problem since I was going very slowly since there are little kids skateboarding and biking around. What I didn't expect was the truck perpendicular to the sidewalk with the entire bed of the truck out on the street. I couldn't get around the truck so I stopped, and as I attempted to straddle the bike, my left foot stepped over the curb and with ten inches or so curb height, I fell over and flipped the bike in the air. I landed on my side and hit my hips on the curb and head on the street.

I regret not having the bike slam into the truck since the bike was damaged enough that I couldn't ride it and walked it home. I was seriously thinking of walking back to the truck with my 6 lb sledge hammer to leave a few clues for the owner to realize that he was blocking the sidewalk. I was too bruised to walk back so I took the bike to the repair shop so to get it back sometime next week.

I was thinking that there oughta be a law, when it occured to me that there IS a law about blocking sidewalks. So I may not have to use the hammer, rather, file a complaint.

Dying at Christmas

Sassy the family dog, diagnosed with lymphoma in September is off the initial chemo treatment when it was found that the dog was not responding to treatment. Three weeks ago Sassy was given 2 to 8 weeks to live. The average for dogs with a resistance to chemo treatment.

Christmas is approaching and I view it with sadness as I see my little friend with no change in her mental outlook, except for being a little confused as to why she is a bit more tired than before and needs lots of naps during the day. Long walks are out of the question now, just shorter walks from the 3 mile walks she used to take.

Her coloring is fading a bit, not as pronounced as before, still a pretty dog, but fading. My understanding that she will die in a few short weeks or hopefully, months, saddens me. I don't plan on getting another dog. This is to be my second heartbreak of losing a beloved pet. As I age, it becomes harder to lose a pet, especially one that is in the prime years of her life, just 5 years old.

Sassy is a Shetland Sheepdog, a California dog, born of Sheltie parents in Orange, California. She isn't from a line of champion dogs, although she is a purebred sheltie. She doesn't herd, however, we tried that. She just likes walks, hugs, and dog biscuits.

A December Post, Yosemite National Park

A December posting. Yosemite National Park January 12, 2005.

Merry Christmas