I have a new dog called Bam Bam – although I mostly call him ‘Boozle’ (shortened from ‘Bam Boozle Bam’). He’s a mix of I don’t know what and he’s about 7 months old now, so he’s still a pup. Even so he’s pretty big. He is I am told a typically Thai dog. I’ve never had a dog before, so I was surprised when the people he was staying with told me he was in need of a new home I had an overwhelming feeling that I wanted him to come and live with us (that’s me and the wife). It was such a strong feeling that I thought there must be some kind of learning experience to be had from this. Something that will teach me a lesson that is critical for whatever I may face further down the line, so I decided to forget about the ‘what if’s’ and the ‘Oh it’s too much hassle’ and give Boozle a home.
He’s proved to be a real character and this is the main inspiration for this post. He just makes me laugh… and he does get annoying too at times. He’s started barking, howling and growling at something outside for the last week at random intervals and for the life of me I can’t see whatever it is he sees. It looks like he can see something, but it’s out of my RADAR range! He exhibits some behavioural characteristics of a cat too as far as I can see. He seems only to be interested in me when I am in the area of the kitchen, especially if the fridge door is open or he hears the rustling of food wrapping. As soon as the food is gone. He’s off outside again, terrorising the neighbours with his wolf-like howling and growling, even though he is harmless. He scared the post lady the other day.
I do feel for him a bit though. He had the snip when he was a baby, so he’ll never get to experience the joys of manhood properly, but it means he won’t get too agressive and I think he’s going to be a big dog! However there’s a couple of things that really tickle me about this dog. He makes this groaning sound; a bit like purring, but louder and he does it a lot, especially when he’s stretching his legs out and being lazy. He sounds like an old bloke, it’s really funny! But here is the best story he has provided me with so far and it breaks me up with laughter every time I think about it…
Recently the house across the road was vacated and is for rent. Once Boozle was used to his new home here and started exploring the street, he started going over to that house, exploring the garden and lazing on the driveway. He is just small enough to squeeze through the gaps in the gate. The owners came by the other day with a roll of chicken wire to put up on the gate and what I had suspected for a few days was proved to be right. Now seeing as I can’t follow him into the neighbours grounds, due to the gate being padlocked I can’t see what he gets up to, especially when he’s round the back of the house, but it transpires that he’s been visiting that house regularly to have a poo! As the owner of the house was putting up the deterrent, Bam Bam approached the house and the guy must have put two and two together along with his wife and son and they were all laughing at him as he looked up at them as if to say ‘What are you doing? Where am I gonna poo now?’. I was really impressed with the way the owners treated the situation and a little relieved. I don’t think the neighbours would have been quite so entertained by such behaviour back home in Blighty!
So Boozle is a real character and I’m sure you’ll be hearing more stories about him.
From Longing to Living:
Bill O'Leary
Derek Sivers
Maria Palma
