Gonzo, the doggie lama

Okay, Darren.  We've had this argument before, about whose dog is the doggie lama.  Now, that I've met Bozwell, I can attest he is an amazing, beautiful dog. I might well believe he was the doggie lama, if I hadn't already known Gonzo, who is the doggie lama.  I have proof. 

So, we found our pup eleven years ago rolling in manure in a barn outside Wyoming, Iowa.  He was of indiscriminate breed and color.  What I thought was a wiry bush of brown fur revealed itself after a good bath to be silky black, curly when it's wet.  The breed is some mix of perhaps yellow lab and maybe cocker spaniel, but he's been called everything from a border collie to Australian sheepdog to springer spaniel.  It doesn't really matter what he is; it matters who he is, anyway.

Gonzo was twelve weeks old when we took him home, gentle and sweet, loved cats, which was a good thing.  Some of our cats have loved him.  Tiger used to lurk on the couch arm, waiting for him to pass below and then jump on his back and ride him.  Oggy and Jazz, as abandoned kittens, thought he was their mother and he would wash them.  When they tried to nurse, he looked at me in bewilderment, but even when they bit him, just got up and found another place to lay.  Butterscotch hated him, but Butterscotch hated everyone.  He let Cathy's parakeet hop all over his paws and back (we have pictures of this).  Once, at our old house, there was a baby bunny who tried to jump through our chain link fence and got caught up in the diamond links.  Baby bunnies scream when they are scared; Gonzo investigated, figured out what was wrong, and while we watched, he pushed the bunny through. 

He is pure love.  Anyone wanting an example of abject devotion needs only to go walk with us.  If I let loose of his chain, he will take a few steps alone and then come back to me.  If the girls take his leash and walk him and I get too far behind, he will lay flat on the sidewalk and try to army crawl his way back to me.  He won't pull or hurt the girls to return to me, but he won't take another step further away. 

He is a problem solver, thinks things through, and is full of love. For a dog to deny his instincts to give chase and hunt, and instead nurture smaller animals is almost unheard of.  So, sorry, Darren and Valerie.  Your dog is great, mine is better, at least to me.  Maybe that's how everyone feels about their dogs, but I never did about a dog until Gonz.