Beastie
So I’ve been thinking. I adore Miranda. She’s a lovely, long-haired Irish setter with a faint Irish accent and an old soul. In fact she was inspired by a quilt that was inspired by a painting by Waterhouse , called The Tempest.
All that lovely red hair rippling in the wind. Unfortunately, Miranda (who was originally Matilda) just isn’t working for me. I need an old soul, wise and sonorous, and Irish Setters simply aren’t that mellow. Besides, I’ve never owned one.
I’ve mainly had English Springer Spaniels, but none of them (Tammy, Freckles, Leo the smartest dog that ever lived, Lillian, Rags or Rosie) seemed to work.
And then suddenly I thought of Beastie, my sister’s Newfoundland. Beastie was huge and sweet and wise, an old soul in a giant puppy’s body if ever there was one.
Abby’s Beastie is the traditional black beast, with a huge head, the sweetest eyes, and his voice is as deep and rich as his woof. He’s the rock amidst all the hyper dogs, he’s Abby’s best friend. Now my only problem is figuring out why Abby would need to bring him to dog obedience classes when he’s so well-behaved.
Maybe it’s because he overrules Abby at times, usually for good reason. He can be stubborn, and it’s hard for Abby to realize that he knows better than she does. Until he starts talking to her.
I’m gonna have to talk to my fellow goddesses. Something tells me they’re going to want a better reason for Abby to drag Beastie to the obedience class.
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I’ve been thinking about that. Abby just moved to Summerville, right? Maybe Beastie has been depressed and Abby can’t cheer him up, so she takes him to the class to meet other dogs. And then of course once she can hear him talk, he can tell her about the beautiful Irish Setter named Miranda that he left behind. And then he meets Bikki and falls for her pretty empty little head and helps bring her back from Cheeto hell.
So is the redhead in the painting above what Abby looks like?
omibob, what a cute dog. such a sweetie. (you can tell from the picture)
oh, helpful suggestion…yeah, let’s just wait for the other D&G followers say. (we need a name for us)
Like the dog. Really ,like the dog. But that Waterhouse woman has no breasts and red hair growing out of her chest.
Oops, that is her hand covering her breasts. In obvious distress over the sinking of her lover’s ship.
Since I do love seascapes I am off to google Waterhouse
Being a redhead (I used to look like the girl in the picture — when I was about 12, but with glasses and more freckles (-: — really), I’ve always admired Irish Setters from afar. My freshman English teacher had one, and I remember it being a pretty calm beast, but the teacher did mention some in-bred stupidity. Poor baby had stomach problems too.
OH, how come you are sitting on the helpful suggestions? Now I feel like I have to sit on my helpful suggestion (-:.
Oh well, what the heck. I’m sure this doesn’t fit the situation, but court-mandated obedience school — maybe the dog threatened a bad guy (without actually biting) and the guy sued. OTOH, if Miranda/Beastie is in school for “running” — I’d take my dog to obedience school if he ran in front of a car, scared me to death, yet managed to survive. Or maybe the dog has a chewing problem. Even old souls can have a mouth fixation.
If this were a real dog, I could see several behavioral problems stemming from anxiety over the move.
Do the dogs have inner struggles between their Dog Souls (wise and divine) vs. their Dog Natures (the stuff that’s wired into dog brains)? Just throwing it out in case it has any bearing on the matter.
We had a gorgeous Irish Setter and she was plenty mellow once she got out of the crazy puppy stage (which admittedly lasted about five years). Energy to burn as a puppy but truly gentle, beautiful calm nature after that. Er, apart from the faint prima donna/adventure queen edge (this is a dog that leaped a fence to run back to the vet after being brought home from surgery because we had gone out and obviously were not paying the appropriate attention to red dogs who had just had a traumatic experience, was shot by a farmer (apparently the foxes are Irish setter sized), got knocked up by a cattle dog, gave birth to eight puppies while almost dying of pneumonia and was kidnapped but chewed her way free and came home). But honestly, very mellow. I guess it was either that or complete hysteria.
I like the idea of Beastie being anxious since the move. Aren’t there little ticks that stressed out dogs do? Like lick themselves bald in areas? I’m not saying Beastie should do that, but maybe give him a tick since coming to Summerville, and Abby’s trying to deal with that?
Maybe he talks to himself. Or sings their song.
We had a black lab who we trained to fetch the newspaper from the end of the driveway. Which was really great until one day he fetched all the neighbors newspapers when we weren’t paying attention. Made me laugh like crazy. Which of course he took for encouragement. And then we couldn’t get him to stop doing that.
My SIL has two Newfies. For some reason I can picture one of them gently grabbing small neighborhood children by the sleeve, one at a time, and bringing them home. Little kids LOVE those dogs.
Long time ago, before the earth had really set up very well, I had an Alsatian who knew the fences of our place and who never let anyone inside without My or Dad’s approval.
There were two exceptions: She let my Uncle Pete inside the first time she saw him. (She was right. He was a good guy.)
And she never let our neighbor, Dragoo, inside, no matter how we commanded, cajoled or tried to trick her. After a while, we realized that she was right about this, too. He was a very bad guy. We didn’t know it, but somehow, she did.
And I LOVE Beastie! Just look at that face! A girl could trust those eyes with her life and her heart. I have known eyes like that.
Hmm…
I saw an episode of The Dog Whisperer once, with a yellow Lab who was OCD about swimming - he would swim himself into exhaustion, ’cause he just wanted to swim all the time. Newfoundlands are bred to be swimmers also. Maybe he has an obsession with water? Like, pulling at the leash to get to water, or jumping into ditches and getting all muddy.
Or maybe he has a thing about “rescuing” people who are in water? Swimming pools, bathtubs, etc.
Great ideas, guys. I love the idea of him biting a bad guy and it being court mandated. Though actually I think he’d just flatten a bad guy. Newfies are so huge.
And absolutely gentle, and wonderful with kids.
Here’s another famous painting that I loved as a kid — it’s a multi-colored Newfie:
OK — Lani’s gonna have to show me how to put a picture up in comments.
I also love the big lug being heartsick for an Irish setter and singing their song.
Maybe Abby’s moving into a new place, and her landlord wants an obedience class certificate for Beastie before she’ll okay a pet.
Hmm. Lost my post. Anyway, Abby’s bought an abandoned bar and she’s planning to refurbish it so she can Feed the World. Otherwise that would work.
And here’s the Landseer painting of the Newfie and the drowning child, except that the title is “Saved” so I’m presuming the kid’s alive.
Let’s see if Lani’s instructions worked.
Okay, how about Abby wants to get involved with animal therapy for cancer patients, but the program requires that Beastie has an obedience class certificate. That definitely fits in with a save-the-world mentality.
Maybe Abby, just thought, I’m new in town, I like dog people, a free class, a chance to see the university, WTH? I’ll go.
Newfies are the 2nd greatest of the huge dogs, I have a special affection for the Bernese Mnt Dog. Just never after a water break, lots happens around that muzzle. yowza.
Beastie is fabulous. I am instantly envious of Abby. He seems like a dog I would love at first sight. What a great face.
I like the lonely dog theory. Maybe he’s a dog who would feel sad but try not to burden Abby because he knows she already has to much on her plate. I also like the bad guy idea. Maybe he was gently, but firmly, reminding some teenage bullies to leave the younger kids alone. He looks very partial to little ones.
Maybe he herds eligible young men home to Abby? That could be embarrassing for all humans involved.
It seems like Beastie might be big enough to counter-surf, take food off the counter or table behind Abby’s back. I could see a mellow dog doing this. And if Abby’s opening a bar/restaurant, this would be a particularly bad thing.
I do like the idea that he’s pining, though.
I don’t know about the obedience training but Newfies slobber like I’ve never seen before. Just a quick shake of the head and there’s goo on the ceiling, goo on the wall, goo EVERYWHERE. Try tossing one a tennis ball for a whle and it soon weighs twice as much due to the slobber. Great dogs. Very nice. Lots of hair and lots of slobber. (Our samoyed did not slobber, but had all the hair.)
Well, I second the motion to make the dog a Newfie and not a setter. My brother had a setter once upon a time–dumb as dirt he was (the dog, not my brother). All beauty, no brain. I like the dog always trying to rescue people–can you imagine trying to take a bath or go swimming with that big brute jumping in to the rescue?! Hysterical! And frustrating.
The whole idea of “Do the dogs have inner struggles between their Dog Souls (wise and divine) vs. their Dog Natures (the stuff that’s wired into dog brains)?” would maybe work here–he just can’t help himself and she needs to find a way to fix him.
Micki re 5- i needed a pillow at the time.
always trust dog instincts. they have good ones.
Maybe Beastie’s problem (see BCB’s comments) is that he herds all the kids in the neighborhood to his house. Don’t like slobber! If you need slick, how about an Afghan or some such? Greyhound? Or a Newfoundlander that died and got reincarnated into a Greyhound? No slobber, but herds.
(-: OK OH.
Re: the biting. I’m not sure if a dog could get away with biting — I’m pretty sure that’s a one-way ticket to the death house, if it’s a real bad guy pressing charges. Sitting on, however, and maybe some mild mouthing, would be OK. No breaking of skin. Check with your local dog catchers.
(-: I like the one where the dog is stealing food.
BTW, when my sister was in kindergarten, she was walking home from school alone, and this big ol’ dog decided that a five-year-old had no business being out on the streets. It SAT on her, and wouldn’t let her go! She was sooooo traumatized. I should ask my mom what happened — apparently she and the dog owner had a good talk, and came to some kind of arrangement, because my mom was sympathetic to the dog, but my sister never got sat on again. (Makes me nostalgic for small, rural towns of 30 years ago . . . .)
I don’t think Beastie is ‘misbehaving.’ He’s just doing things Abby doesn’t understand. He’s trying to look out for her and she keeps misinterpreting that behavior.
Actually the real Beastie wasn’t an obnoxious slobberer, and I’d remember, because I have a low tolerance for spit and drool. I was around a horse who slobbered a lot more.
I’m liking the herding children a lot. They’re very protective.
And I like the pining, and the sitting on the bad guy.
Hey, chances are he’d do all these things. There’s bound to be someone to sit on sooner or later. Probably Christopher until he gets over being so obnoxious.
How about digging? Maybe the poor thing develops an obsession with digging a hole in his new home, and she hopes to break him of that. (Only, of course, it turns out later that there’s some mysterious Mesopotamian item buried there…)
And to the person who suggested he steals food - brilliant. Even the mellowest dog gets hungry!
Okay, this discussion is clearly from a while ago, but I missed it, and I feel like I should stick up for my beloved Irish.
Irish Setters (in fact, most setters) are very high spirited dogs. Fad breeding in the seventies (due to a sudden rise in popularity) produced several generations of high-strung, extremely hyper dogs, which have given the breed as a whole a bad name. Anybody who’s had a few generations of setters (and my parents have had them for over thirty years) knows they come in all kinds of temperaments, mostly loving, loyal, and eager to please. They do have a lot of energy, but there are old souls aplenty in the ranks of setters I’ve owned, so Miranda would likely have been totally believable. (I’ve been away from this site for several months and came back today with an excess of time on my hands at the office, and was sad to see the Irish Setter I’d been so excited about removed from the masthead.)
Now I have a Gordon Setter, and he’s still a puppy at 18 months, so it’s too soon to know where he’ll settle out, personality wise. But my parents still have four Irish, and my next will be an Irish (A Seamus to go with my Angus. I just have to talk my husband out of the German Shepherd he’s been eyeing.)