Stories

Wash, hot wax, the whole nine yards…

My friend Laura has a miniature Dachshund and a list of things she tells her dog-less friends who visit. About a third of the way down is: “Yes, he smells like a dog. He’s a dog.” There does come a point, however, when your dog smells like an even dozen dogs; a dozen dogs who all really need a bath.

No, it’s a bakery FOR dogs.

When we first heard that a dog bakery was opening in Irvington we were very surprised to find that our friend Joe, who has always been a cat person, was excited and looking forward to it. When we asked, he explained that he’d read somewhere that, if baked properly, batter-dipped Cocker Spaniel tastes almost exactly like free range chicken. I should add that our friend Joe is from Carmel, which we believe explains, well, pretty much everything.

Commander Canine and the Case of the Russian Pancake Hound

My best friend in Indianapolis was a Russian historian at IUPUI. A couple years ago, though it doesn’t feel nearly that long, he lost a battle to cancer. Now that the cloud of loss and sadness has dissipated a bit, I find myself thinking of some of the more interesting times we shared. This is one of my favorites.

Dogs

I never had a dog while I was growing up. Instead, I envied my friends who had a variety of dogs. There was always one kid who had the perfect dog. In my neighborhood it was a kid who had a German Shepherd named “King” who, it was rumored, did the kid’s math homework for him.