LabradorRodeo

“He looks like a dingo.”

“What?”

“When he’s on his back like that. Looks like a dingo.”

The roomie was right. He does. So when Lomax gets in a wiggly mood and rolls onto his back in the middle of the living room floor, snorting and trying desperately to touch the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail, we call it the Dingo Dance. Sometimes there’s a toy involved — the Nylabone ring, the delicious rubber Orbee bone — and sometimes he just goes solo.

I ran across an article today, written by Jonah Goldberg just after the events of September 11, about what drives a working dog. None of you puppy raisers or guide dog handlers will be surprised in the slightest. Here’s an excerpt:

The dog is the only animal that volunteers for duty. If we want other animals — horses, oxen, mules, falcons, bears, or parrots — to come to our aid, we must either force them or bribe them.

Here’s the rest of the article. Bring Kleenex.

Apparently, the school is only going to neuter the males. Still no word on what exactly the trait is that the breeding manager doesn’t want passed down, but we may never find out. Not a big deal, as far as I’m concerned, as long as everyone’s healthy.

The best thing about this news is that not only could one of Lomax’s littermate sisters still be named a breeder, one of his older sisters (same parents, previous litter) is already a breeder and won’t have to be spayed. We’re also thrilled that one of his other female relatives — a sweet little peanut of a black Lab named Mika, whose “wiggle hinge” is even more flexible than Lomax’s — is also safe in her breeder status.

I had a chance to talk to the trainer who left me a message, and she seems optimistic that these guys are all still terrific dogs whose ability to guide won’t be affected in the slightest. It was very encouraging! We talked a bit about Lomax’s tap-dancing — the poor little man just can’t sit still when there’s someone he loves nearby, and he tries SO HARD — and she seems to think that it may be mostly hormonal. It will be good to see how things change when the testosterone has had a chance to work its way out of his system. I’m hoping that it won’t change his personality too much…but I definitely could stand for him to mellow out a little.

So, Tuesday’s the big day! I’ll probably go to graduation at the school on Sunday morning, then drop him off at the kennels.

Lomax would like to wish everyone a happy Chinese new year…apparently, it is the year of the dog.

I just found out they’re going to neuter Lomax. According to a trainer in the GDA puppy department, they “found something in the lines” that made them decide to fix ’em. It sounded like she was speaking in the plural, so while she didn’t specifically say the whole litter, if there’s something in the lines they want to discontinue, it makes sense. She said “they’d still make great guides,” so it’s apparently nothing too serious, but I haven’t had a chance to speak with her directly because I didn’t get her message in time. I won’t know until Monday, which kills me!

After all my lamenting, my soliloquies on the difficulty of reining in a four-legged teenage boy in spring-loaded furry tap shoes, I am feeling a little sad. My roomie is feeling the same way.

It’s not just that there will be no little Lomaxes (Lomices?), or that he has individually been rejected. I think what makes me sad is the possibility that there will be no breeder from the whole litter. I didn’t seriously think they’d make him a breeder (in my opinion, he’s a little nuttier — pardon the pun and sorry, Lomax — than some of his sibs), but I was looking forward to hearing a happy announcement that Liam or one of his other littermates had been chosen to pass on their fine qualities. They really are terrific dogs, these guys.

But the…ahem, procedure…really will make the rest of our time together easier, on both of us, so I’m focusing on that.

The kennel stay was a success. GDA kennel techs report that Lomax and Liam were “very good boys” with “NO signs of stress.” Not shocking in the slightest, either of those things. Our happy bachelor brothers did, however, take every available opportunity to…attempt to woo the ladies, shall we say? And yet, still no word on their breeder evaluation schedule (Liam is ALSO still intact, as is most of their litter).

I had the in-house vet check Lomax for an ear infection, as he’d been a little “flappy” for a day or two before, and sure enough, he came home with meds for his left ear. But he’s been a sport about that so far, sucker for an ear rub that he is.

The two of them must have played constantly for the whole three days, because I got an e-mail from Liam’s puppy raisers, saying that he had effectively put himself to bed at seven o’clock. Lomax was so tired last night that I actually debated whether or not to take him to obedience class. Thinking it might be nice for a change to work with him when he’s less wiggly, however, Slave Driver Jenny dragged the poor little man to class and experienced the phenomenon of having to encourage him to keep up during an average-pace heel.

I felt so spoiled! Free vet care, a few days of romping for him and total freedom for me, and they bathed him and trimmed his toenails to boot. There’s nothing like getting back a clean, sleepy dog.

Lomax is “at camp” for a few days up at the GDA kennels. For those of you who aren’t puppy raisers, I’ll explain: we do this periodically so the dogs can get used to the kennel environment, where they’ll be living when they go in for their six(ish) months of formal training. It makes the transition less stressful.

It’s been a nice break for me — and a great opportunity to wear all my black clothing without incident — but I miss my little yellow man! No doubt he is having the time of his life, surrounded by other dogs, peeing where and when he wants to, and rooming with his brother Liam.

Since I won’t have the opportunity to take any photos for a few more days, I’ll leave you with one more from our LEGOland adventure:

“Trouble to the east, Lord Lomax!”

“I see it, Sir Bricksalot…take the leash and get me out of here.”

“Yes, my liege.”

I always knew Lomax was a superstar! To Tame the Wild Beastie has been chosen as Dogmark’s “Cool Dog Site of the Day.”

We’d like to thank the fine people at Dogmark for selecting us, as well as Julia and Rockwell for cluing us in on the existence of the award, and of course, our favorite roommate Amy for nominating us.

We would also like to thank every one of our visitors. It’s a pleasure to share Lomax’s training with you.

As to whether fame will change us, I am satisfied with posting this humble award graphic on the site and giving him an extra chicken snap or two, but Lomax thinks he should start looking for representation while he’s still buzzworthy.

I just accidentally saved a document to my computer with the extension “.dog” instead of “.doc” — who says this puppy raising business is an all-consuming pastime?