Allow me a moment, Dear Readers, to check the dates on this edition…. Ah, yes, this is the Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping
Cats Nap edition for the weekend of May 13-14, 2023.
So what? So, the 14th of May is the anniversary of the first edition of Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap. The feature was designed as a place for people to discuss the animals they love. It’s meant to inspire people without animals to help us animal nuts save ‘em all by adopting and adoring.
Yes, it was 18 years ago that we began to honor slumbering animals and the people who love them.
For this 2023 edition, we turn to our own dear dog Wendy. Why? Because she’s recuperating from a positive experience with her great vet’s practice and, besides, we love her. Martha rescued Wendy as the poor puppy tried to keep up with pedestrians along Polk St. — people who weren't interested in helping that dog. Martha named her Wednesday Louise Wagstaff Arden, after Doris Day’s and Irene Dunne’s character in Move Over, Darling (1963 with Doris) and My Favorite Wife (1940 with Irene.)
Wendy (her call name!) was not yet born when we launched this feature. She’s 14 now and, as ever septuagenarian loves to hear, she’s “doing well for your age.” Wendy had to have an odd gloppy (not a medical term) growth removed from her left front paw and that resulted in her need for a collar that wouldn’t let her gnaw the stiches. She took both the surgery and the collar well. The household humans didn't work well with the plastic collar, however. It made odd sounds in the night --and in the day, too.
Wendy is adorable, as you can see in her assorted photos. The one with her on the couch against the floral curtains shows her with one of her feline sidekicks, William Powell, our Executive Office Cat who, sometimes, likes to pal around with the dogs.
Perhaps you’re wondering what we did to help Wendy sleep in the “Elizabethan Collar.” I wired it for sound, of course. Tiny invisible and inedible speakers -- can you see the instructions on the "wall" of the collar?
Yep, as you Dear Readers probably suspected years ago, I am actually all wired for Artificial Intelligence myself — have been for decades. That’s why I’m such a brainiac. E=mc2 and all that. Had to do something to support the family habit of picking up loose dogs and cats. Absolutely, this is why we’re so rich. Nothing but firepower in this brain-- and I can work with all 23 of the 26 letters of the alphabet.
But, if you want to see brains at work, look at the last two Wendy photos. My swift-to-the-solutionspouse Martha ordered a quieter household “don’t chew your stitches” collar for Wendy and it arrived within 24 noisy hours. [LARRY ASIDE: I snapped the first photo and a split second later her eye popped open to see what I was up to -- she went back to sleep. That's how interesting I am to a dog and a great number of Earthly mammals.]
Clearly Wendy adapted well to the new inflatable cloth collar that plays country music waltzes. OK, I made up that waltz part.
But — and this is for real — if you want to hear the tranquility base for Wendy’s nodding off, click on THIS LINK. (That's Wendy in her favorite dog bed -- she sleeps in it just to humor the humans who bought it.)
Heck, yeah, we insomniacs know these tricks — it’s one of mine! (CASUAL WARNING: There is a slim chance no advertisement will play before you get to hear the Claude Debussy masterpiece of sweet and soft music. TV/Radio/Online marketing people are richer than AI scientists, I’m pretty sure.)
In the meantime, hearing a big dog slamming through doorways in a giant plastic collar will keep a person awake no matter who’s directing the orchestra and ticklin’ the ivories.
But, whatever Wendy wants to do is OK with us. She’s a dog who is worth lovin’. She’s always happy to see her humans walk into the house. Especially if one of us happens to be carrying a box of treats. Dogs — they’re so human.
[DEAR READERS: This little guy is Oliver — the first slumbering animal featured in Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap. He’s the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel loved and raised by my middle brother Barry and his family in suburban Chicago. At the top of this page you’ll see some ol’ goat driving a dog to an Operation Kindness festival in a park many years ago. I was taking her to meet my baby brother Garry who was looking for a canine companion. That dog had taken me about 2 years to catch — too smart for her own good. She wandered our old Dallas neighborhood until she had a litter of puppies under a neighbor’s storage shed and a neighbor I’d never met called me and said, “Mr. Powell, you’ve got to do something about these dogs!” Martha and I found places for all of them to go — the momma went to my baby brother Garry and became Calamity. One puppy stayed with us and became Annie. Perhaps your dog or cat or iguana or horse or goat or cow or some relative with annoying habits has an interesting story of rescue and can be photographed lovingly while asleep. Send us the info and we’ll feature them in Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap. Info and photos to [email protected]. Thanks for loving your dogs and cats and critters and, of course, relatives. Larry]
-- Offer your critter photos and stories by emailing them to [email protected]. Show off your friends!]