chihuahua_subterfuge raze her sister's dog was a short-haired tan chihuahua named kibble. they were living together, but the sister couldn't be bothered to take care of her own pet, so feeding and walking him fell to her. he liked me. but when he put it together that i was becoming something crawling toward a boyfriend, he became a crafty little kibble, doing what he could to steal her attention away from me. we would be walking him. the moment he saw her take my hand he would stop moving so she'd have to carry him if we wanted to get to wherever we were going, making hand-holding an impossibility. if it was raining even a little, he just wouldn't walk at all. not that his convenient bouts of skittishness were limited to holding hands and rain. whenever we got too close for his liking during a walk, he would engineer some way to be held by her. he was never aggressive with me, but i got the message. his masterstroke came one night when we were watching a movie. i can't remember what movie it was, but she got up to do something in the middle of it. i watched him jump up on the couch, watched him watch her, calm as a statue, watched him position himself so he was right in the place he knew she was going to sit, where she'd made a dimple in the leather. when she sat back down without looking, he was ready with his best yelp. and when she put him in her lap and cuddled him and cooed her apology, i could swear he was smiling. if nothing else, i had to admire his persistence. 131210 ... epitome of incomprehensibility This made me smile. From looking at them, I don't get the impression that chihuahuas are at all intelligent, but that just goes to show I shouldn't judge by appearances. I guess it's apt, though, that chihuahuas (this one at least) are smart in an annoying-but-cute way. 131210 ... raze i've always been more of a cat person, but from my experiences with canine dudes and ladies, they're not so different from people; there are some that aren't too bright, and others that are so intelligent it's almost unnerving. at one end of the spectrum you've got kibble the cute 'n' evil saboteur. at the other, there's nikita. nikita is a siberian husky / alaskan malamute mix. i'd say "was", but i'm assuming she's still around, though she'd be right at the ceiling of her projected lifespan now. my mother and stepfather brought her home about fifteen years ago. she was an adorable puppy who grew into a gorgeous, exotic-looking dog. but here's the thing...they didn't do any research into the needs of her breed. she's the kind of dog that needs a lot of exercise and activity. keep her locked up inside all day and she'll go stir-crazy. what did they do? they kept her locked up inside all day, and she didn't get walked nearly enough. you couldn't ask for a friendlier dog. she liked everyone. even when the cat was trying to take her head off, she liked her too and thought they were playing. but when they were giving out smarts, i think nikita got shortchanged a little. you'd try to teach her a trick and she'd look at your hand as you gesticulated. then she'd lick it. she would eat the cat's food. when that was gone, she would eat the cat's feces. one day we all came home from work and school, opened the door, and niki came bounding out of it and almost knocked us over. she went for a run around the block. the stepfather chased after her, and when he got her back in the garage, he had her in a tight headlock. "do you wanna die?!" he screamed at her. she, of course, turned to lick his face. she thought they were playing. 131211 what's it to you? who go blather from