The Heartwarming Character of Animals.

Animals, you gotta love them...

My parents and I were at a friends house, collecting her unwanted firewood. Her house is about 20 km's away, so it was an outing of sorts for me. The scenery here in our area of Burgenland is just so beautiful and interesting, and it's always nice to make new friends.

Well, in this case I made three. All men. All with their individual traits. The house we went to, has three proprietary dogs. The grand old Dalmatian, Roger, who looks deceptively agile and trim, yet is 12 years old. When you are around him, you notice his age more. He has a habit of dropping his wee wherever he wants, and is deaf to boot. Yet adorably, loud ( you know how the hard of hearing somehow bark louder ) and affectionate.

Max, the teenager, being only a year old, is a fluff ball of fur. His breed is a mystery to me, but he is a convenient lap dog size, and a cheeky character to boot. Once the initial cooing and stroking was done, he just wanted to play. Like a naughty boy, he could not get enough of running and chasing ( I baited him by pretending to chase after him ). A real treat to watch, as there was no way I could keep up with him, running those crazy rodeo like circles !

Just like a human, the third dog was rather reticent and shy, always keeping in the background. His breed is similar to Max, but I have to confess that I have forgotten his name. Every now and again, he would enter the fray, but he rather sat and watched all this energetic behaviour from the side lines.

At one point, the dogs all started to get agitated and barked in varying tones. Their owner somehow tried to " shoosh " them, but to no avail. Thinking no more of it, I kept on loading the trailer with the wood. Suddenly, I heard this rather loud and shrill voice, from inside the house, calling the individual dog's names, and telling them to shut up. It confused me, as I knew that everyone was outside !

The owner saw my questioning look, and explained to me, that she has a Parrot inside the house. Well this bird was having fun, calling out the various commands and barbs, to the dogs. Must have been a female bird, because she really knew how to get the dogs going...

Biggi