By Moristotle
[In remembrance of our beloved canine family member Siegfried (January 24, 2009 – March 8, 2019) – and by “family” I refer to Moristotle & Co. as well as to myself and my wife – I re-run an item that was originally posted on February 10, 2010, “For Reina in Little Rock.”]
Prompted by a friend’s inquiry whether Siegfried not only looks like Wally [to be remembered in tomorrow’s posting] but also has a similar personality, I think this is a good place to report that Siegfried’s personality is actually a lot different from Wally’s. We suspect that he wasn’t well socialized during the seven weeks before he came to us (as we know for a fact Wally was), so he’s sort of fearful of noises, people he doesn’t know (or know well), and other non-human animals.
That’s very significant. Four other significant differences are:
- He’s very mouthy; he seems to have to feel things with his teeth, and nipping us seems to be a way to express affection (as strange and annoying as that can be at times).
- He seems to be a good deal more energetically (assertively) playful than (I at least remember) Wally was as a young dog.
- His physical dexterity (his ability to dance and leap and cavort) is amazing; he could be a circus performer!
- He will assertively push open a door to go through it (something Wally would never do) and, related to this, he is ever getting into anything he can reach. Wally would of course “get into things,” but he didn’t seem nearly as persistent about it.
| Copyright © 2010, 2020 by Moristotle |
Morris, in the blur of life--moving back to Virginia, raising a child, renovating a house--I completely missed the news about Siegfried. Belatedly, my condolences. It seems only a short while ago that I first met you, your wife, and Siegfried, during a morning workout on the Historic Occoneechee Speedway Trail system. Even now I remember how Siegfried had an attentive, regal air about him, and how he was very well-mannered beyond his years. It just doesn't seem possible that so many years have gone by since that chance meeting, and that such a special being as Siegfried is gone with them.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice remembrance, Paul. And without that meeting at HOST, we might never have come to know one another and become friends, and be exchanging these comments now.
DeleteThe pain gets easier but it never goes away. A toast, "Splash some rum on the ground in memory of Siegfried and hold your glass high for a love one that has passed our way."
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ed, you are one who knows better than most whereof you speak.
DeleteI've lost three dogs in the last thirty years. A brutal experience every time. Every time I see a picture of Sunlight I miss him terribly again. Even if he did once knock me sprawling into a cactus patch. And catch a baby skunk.
ReplyDelete“Brutal” really captures it, Chuck! Your “thirty years” reminds me that on my walk yesterday I was thinking that, together, Wally (who died eleven years ago tomorrow), and Siegfried (whom we welcomed into our family less than a week after Wally’s passing), shared a total of almost twenty-three years of my life (1996-2019).
DeleteThe web may be regarded as "the" way to meet people today, but I've noticed something intriguing about my time in North Carolina. In 16 years living mostly full-time in North Carolina, all the friends I met there and have stayed in touch with since leaving, have two things in common: 1) I met all of them by chance and in person, not online; 2) none are native North Carolinians. The fact that I met hundreds of natives of North Carolina, but became friends with only those few originally from places like California, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, etc, says something, but I'm not quite sure what.
ReplyDeleteCan you not think of a single exception? If you can, maybe you can identify something about the exceptional North Carolinian that “says something”?
DeleteI have to say, however, that, though you and I met in person on the trail, we have only visited in person for a few minutes in these years, the vast portion of our time spent in each other’s mental presence having been “online” – on the trail of authentic communication.
Maybe what really matters is the nature of the trail you meet (and remain) on?
It is always devastating to lose a family member. We have had dogs and cats for decades and have lost several, mostly to natural deaths. Once we were weak and didn't put down our Sadie when she needed it and she suffered when she shouldn't have. Either way it is heartbreaking. We had another cat besides Jackie who moved across the street and spent her last 2 years with the disabled girl there. Momma Kitty was a tortoise shell and meaner than a bag of rattlesnakes, but in that girl's arms she was a sweetheart! They know so much about us that we are unaware of. Recent story out about a woman having a panic attack in an airport when someone else's service dog dragged her poppa over to her and spent 20 minutes with its head in her lap until she calmed down. They are SO intuitive. When Momma Kitty passed at the age of 20 our animals gathered around us like the family they are and comforted us.
ReplyDeleteRemembering Siegfried fondly...thanks for sharing this post, and the reference to the post for my mother.
ReplyDelete