Our Chinese Shar-pei didn't have a name when we picked him out from the shelter. The staff was calling him Wrinkle Face. It suited him. A good samaritan had found him walking along the side of the road and brought him in out of the bitter cold. His folded skin gave him the appearance of being draped in a brown burlap sack and he had a nose like a hippo. He maintained a quiet dignity as he sat alone in his kennel, staring solemnly out the window that faced the highway. He was the only dog that didn't frantically bark at the humans when they walked down the aisle. My son Jaime fretted over the fate of the other dogs in the shelter. He asked the volunteer if ours would worry about them after he left. “Dogs don't worry about things in the past
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We tossed Octavio around for a while before we settled on Gustavo. Gus for short. Like many dogs he was gifted with a few nicknames from those who loved him. Jaime liked to call him the Gus Bear or GB. GB blessed us with that particularly pungent canine smell that only a dog family could love. His aroma earned him the monikers “Señor Stinky” and “Captain Stink Bomb” from my father, ever the comedian. “Who set off a stink bomb in here?”, he would yell whenever Gus wandered into a room, tail wagging, eager to greet whatever visitor dropped in that day. “You're worth the stinkiness Gus”, he would decidedly announce after scratching Gus' neck and washing his hands. “Your doggy love makes up for …show more content…
Even my daughter, who was never around after she got her driver's license. School was closed so we slept until eight thirty and watched t.v. while the house was quiet. In the afternoon I chopped vegetables and talked on the phone to my mother about pie crust. She never liked how it turned out when I made it. She said it was too crumbly. My husband was working from home and took a break in the afternoon so we could walk Gus to the duck pond. GB was happy to go on a walk but he didn't chase the ducks that day. He always liked to chase the ducks. We stopped at Mr Lin's house as we made our way back. His house was empty but he filled the water dish before he left. After we got home, Gus went to lie down next to the sofa beside his worn-out rawhide bone. His eyes closed and at first we thought he was sleeping. The fireplace warmed the living room and the kitchen smelled like stuffing and pecan
We tossed Octavio around for a while before we settled on Gustavo. Gus for short. Like many dogs he was gifted with a few nicknames from those who loved him. Jaime liked to call him the Gus Bear or GB. GB blessed us with that particularly pungent canine smell that only a dog family could love. His aroma earned him the monikers “Señor Stinky” and “Captain Stink Bomb” from my father, ever the comedian. “Who set off a stink bomb in here?”, he would yell whenever Gus wandered into a room, tail wagging, eager to greet whatever visitor dropped in that day. “You're worth the stinkiness Gus”, he would decidedly announce after scratching Gus' neck and washing his hands. “Your doggy love makes up for …show more content…
Even my daughter, who was never around after she got her driver's license. School was closed so we slept until eight thirty and watched t.v. while the house was quiet. In the afternoon I chopped vegetables and talked on the phone to my mother about pie crust. She never liked how it turned out when I made it. She said it was too crumbly. My husband was working from home and took a break in the afternoon so we could walk Gus to the duck pond. GB was happy to go on a walk but he didn't chase the ducks that day. He always liked to chase the ducks. We stopped at Mr Lin's house as we made our way back. His house was empty but he filled the water dish before he left. After we got home, Gus went to lie down next to the sofa beside his worn-out rawhide bone. His eyes closed and at first we thought he was sleeping. The fireplace warmed the living room and the kitchen smelled like stuffing and pecan