It’s me and Roxie on the sofa right now. She’s asleep curled up in an afghan.
In the morning when Stef calls she’ll ask, “How’s Roodle?”
Roodle is one of Roxie’s many names. The dog has more aliases than a secret agent.
“She’s little,” I’ll say. Then, after a long pause, “And tiny.” It’s like our secret handshake.
Roxie has changed. Helaine and I talked about it tonight.
She’s bigger. Roxie is now around 12 pounds and the vet says she’s a teenager and mostly full grown.
She has never had people food–never. She has no idea what’s going on when we sit down at the table and doesn’t care.
Roxie’s coat is dark, shiny and soft. That makes her tougher to photograph when lighting isn’t optimal. She is slender without being Kate Moss. We think she’s quite attractive.
As a puppy she showed constant energy. She was a pinball bouncing around the house. Now she’s a little more reserved.
She has a few interesting traits. She really enjoys chasing her toys¹. She’ll grab one and bring it back to me so I can throw it again… but she will not let it go. You can see she’s conflicted. There’s nothing she can do. She wants me to have it to throw, but this instinct is so strong.
Same thing happens when we put her leash on. She mouths our hands. She isn’t trying to hurt us–which she could easily do. Again, it’s an instinct beyond her control.
Roxie is very sweet. Unlike Helaine and Stef she doesn’t mind having her photo taken or posted online. She has taught me a lot about animal photography. For this reason alone I’ll miss her.
¹ – All of Roxie’s toys have been named: Michael Lohan and Richard Gere are two.