My Esteemed Art Critics

Hello dear friends

A while back, I did a post on how I came to acquire some of the art in my home. If you missed that post and want to see what the art critics found so amusing you can read about it here! In that post my focus was of course, the art, and I did not include any pictures of the esteemed art critics.

Much later,a new follower to my blog found the post quite amusing and promptly emailed me, complaining bitterly that I had not given due credit to the esteemed art critics and that really, honestly, I should have included some pictures of them. You are so right dear reader and here I am,setting the record straight and giving credit  for a fond memory,where it is due!

Shall we start with the older and wiser's CV?

This dude is a cross breed between a Pug and Toy Pomeranian. He has the body and little pig tail of the pug, but the pointed snout of the Toy Pomeranian. Well, that is just about the only physical acknowledgement to that lineage!

This January he turned SEVENTEEN years old! Now what makes that special you might ask?

Well...

He is almost completely blind, deaf and is diabetic. (By the way, the art was bought some years back when he of course had all his wits about him!! Actually,most of them remain very much in tact believe me!!)

He was diagnosed with diabetes in December 2004 and has to be injected with Canine Insulin twice a day. Shortly after he became diabetic he lost his eyesight.

Now, he has always had the most intriguing character and is a very "chatty" dog! He regularly communicates with snorts of derision if the service in this hotel in not up to scratch!

If things get really tardy and he has to wait for the door to be opened and several snorts of derision later you have not magically materialised to let His Highness in, he will bark at regular intervals, not furiously you understand, but a single meticulously timed barking sequence that is not unlike being in a torture chamber, especially on a Sunday morning when he sometimes decides at 5 am,that he has now had enough of his kennel lodgings and demands entrance to the house. I of course, have a very possessive duvet and have to fight it to let me go... but, that well timed single bark every few seconds soon wears me down, and I have to violently extract myself from the possessive Egyptian Cotton thread count to save my sanity and to prevent my neighbour from hammering down the door!

Meet, Spot!

Here,been decored for Christmas and quite obviously in a comatose state of bliss!

Please note how he sits smack bang on his derriere to the one side. Now you are muttering to yourself...

"But, he has not a single spot??"

Quite right, apart from the black one on his nose. When dear Spot came to us, via South African Airways, on a flight from Johannesburg, all crated and cute as can be, my son , then five, was reading a book called "My Dog Spot" and there was nothing for it, and  the new arrival just has to be named Spot!

Now, as you can see Spot is a dog of some girth and when in full flight chasing after you  to answer the doorbell, on the tiled floor, he has a few issues applying the brakes and will slide into a very ungraceful spin and occasionally collide with the front door, nose first, barking furiously, on this occasion as it is called for, much to the fright of any unsuspecting visitor on the other side of the door. In a very cartoonish fashion he will back pedal and make an about turn barking and try to assert himself once more upon the ringing door with even more dire and comic consequences. Trust me, I have on numerous occasions opened the door in fits of laughter much to the astonishment of my guests!

According to our vet he is something of a veterinary marvel, being diabetic for so long and being of the age that he is. He is giving Madiba a good run for his money!

Spot has establish a routine to travel from the patio door to the grass to make his daily deposits. He exits the door and immediately turns left and proceeds down the ramp, follows the paving until he meets the grass and then happily trots off to find a suitable landing for said deposit. The grass signal safety from the pool! That was the easy part... Now, the  journey back to the patio door is much more complex and arduous. He continues only in one direction and will walk until he finds the flower bed on the far side of the garden and then negotiates a small passage between the pool and the flowerbed. He keeps to the edge of the flowerbed and stops occasionally to sniff suspiciously at the mass of water to his right. Satisfied that he is on course he will proceed slowly, and not unlike a chameleon, lifting his paws high and slowly, keeping an "eye" that the water mass does not jump closer uninvited. He then aims for the stone table and this is where he seems to throw caution to the wind and "wings" it blindly until he finds the flower box and the set of patio stairs which he then "hugs", coming alarmingly close to the water's edge, before making a sharp left and ascending the ramp back to the patio door, concluding his safe passage and announcing his arrival with a snort if the door has been rudely closed on him!

Friends and visitors marvel at his GPS

To say that he rules us is most certainly an understatement. He is my constant companion and follows me like a shadow everywhere, even into the shower if I will allow it, or until I turn on the water and he leaves very rapidly in disgust and with a great deal of shaking and snorting, since water is not his favourite thing in the world. And of course, he will give me a "mouthful" as he exits!

Spot's sidekick is much larger and younger!

He is the handsome blond fellow and as silent as the moon!

Smirnoff, is a golden Labrador and was born in the neighbourhood. A friend once suggested that I selected him to fit into the colour scheme of my decor! Honestly, would I do such a thing??

Meet Smirnoff...



Quite obviously, he got named after a favourite drink at the time and often would be called Vodka by my son's music teacher when she failed to remember his brand name!

Now, where Spot is the brains of this outfit, this dude is nothing more than a looker in Spot's opinion. Apart from being the butt of many a blond joke, he is also the silent one that hardly ever barks. Barking is not his thing and he leaves such trivia to Spot who has it down to a fine art to communicate the partnerships requirements very effectively and efficiently. He merely hovers expectantly over Spot to supervise that the communiques are delivered timelessly.

He is just one lump of cuddly lovable blondness that silently accompanies me everywhere as well. Watchdog, does not come into his vocab and he will lick everyone to death with love. And anyway, he thinks that every single person who enters his domain has made a special trip to come and visit him and he welcomes them appropriately in a loving scrummage, smiling and wagging his tails endlessly.

That wagging tail can clear my coffee table in an instant sweeping cups and glasses of liquid off in a gracious frantic wag of pleasure!  Sigh,,,,,long mopping up sigh,,,,,!!!

Now, Smirnoff is a swimmer of note. He swims daily and has quite a routine involving the pool. When he decides that it is time for the morning plunge, he will take a turn all around the pool inspecting it and then will proceed in a gentlemanly fashion down the stairs, take a short lap and then exit, shake and repeat a stroll around the pool and get in for another. This can go on for anything up to twelve or more laps!

When he has been for a walk though, he gets in the front door and charges through the house in a frantic "Marley and Me style" not always "making" good turns around the furniture and plunges into the pool in a blond mass!
Trust me folks, you do not want to get in the way of him and his pool. Must have some hippo ancestry!

Swimming with a smile!

Each exit is followed by a tail that projects a stream of water onto any unsuspecting bystander and of course a good shake...

His, that was great face! And as you can see the pool level drops dramatically!

Spot and Smirnoff are best of pals and often remind me of the cast of the movie " Homeward Bound" when standing side by side!

So, those are my esteemed art critics folks!

There is still time to enter my Vintage Jewellery Giveaway,

Please click here to enter

Good luck!

The winner will be announced on Monday

Live Well

Veronica

xxx

Linking to:

Friday Unfolds at Stuff and Nonsense here
Mosaic Monday at Little Red House here
Creative Bloggers Party Hop at Homemaker on a Dime here

all images are my own apart from the lovely Giveaway from www.shabbyapple.com

I would love for yo to leave me with you comments below.
Thank you for your company