This is the fourth in our new weekly column, That Nature Show, about the nature right under your nose: in our backyards, playgrounds and parks! Stop and look around, you’ll be amazed at what surrounds you.
A very common animal in Baltimore is the dog, scientifically, canis lupus familaris.
There are as many boutique and chain pet-care places where I live in Owings Mills as a person could want.
Dogs can’t read, right? So the dog bowl that says “Keep Calm And Woof On” with the Queen holding her corgis…that kind of haha is lost on them. Also dogs have never seen Star Wars so the l’il Jedi uniform and Yoda chew toy? They say more about your taste than Fido’s. Specifically they signal to me, that you and I should be friends. Can I sniff your butt?
According to Wikipedia, where all suburban mothers go first before finally caving, yes, crumpling like a cheap napkin, to their children’s plaintive yips and yelps to get a New Year’s dog (pleaseeese, pleaaaase, everybody else has a dog come on Mom be fun for once): “Through selective breeding, the dog has developed into hundreds of varied breeds, shows more behavioral and morphological variation than any other land mammal.” Wow.
Don’t hate: my son has allergies, otherwise we would have gone to the pound like the bleeding-heart liberals we are. We got a bichon. Or rather my mother, who loves bichons, got us a bichon.
My daughter, 6, has already named her and I — I swear new pet ownership has similar hormonal changes as new motherhood — have caught myself in the isles of Bark testing dog beds for softness.
We pick Sugar Bastos Anita Sparkle-Pup Twinkle Crumpet Cinnamon Amanda Next Year Can We Get A Pony? up on the 10th.
See you at the dog park.
