Monty, the big black dog

Remember the old Clifford books? My kids used to love those. Well, for the past few days we have been privileged to host my friend Ilana's dog, Monty. Monty is a playmate of Ozzy (the wonder dog) and to say the least he is....larger than life. Every Friday night, Ilana picks me up and we join our dogless friend Tammy in the park and watch the dogs completely ignore each other.

I know. You're thinking, how big can the dog be? Surely not as big as Clifford. Sigh. I wish you wouldn't doubt me. Take a look:



Now, while Ilana has been galivanting up North doing much of nothing, I've been busy taking care of her pooch. I did not ask her permission to post photographs on the blog, but Monty himself gave his okay:

He's actually quite excited to be the topic of a blog post.

When Ilana and I go walking with the dogs, we get stopped every five minutes. The reaction ranges from "Eizeh chamud" [how cute] to "OMG, that dog is freaking huge" or "Is that a bear?". Ilana takes it all in stride. It's to bad she's not single, because that dog is a real babe magnet. Meanwhile, poor Ozzy, the most beautiful dog in the world, gets totally ignored and me and him both feel like wallflowers. Sniff.

When Monty came over on Sunday, he lay on the floor ("New carpet?" asked my neighbor) for, like, 28 hours. Dogs really get depressed when their owners abandon leave them for a few days. I tried to cheer him up, but he wouldn't have any of it. Ozzy totally ignored him, and, opportunistic hound that he is, ate all of Monty's food. By Monday afternoon, it was apparent that Monty had changed his direction of thought: Well, this is stupid, mourning those people who are out living-it-up and leave me behind. These humans are just as much fun. He started eating and drinking and enjoying our attention. Anytime one of us would coochy-coo with Monty, Ozzy would trot on over anxiously to get his share of love and belly-scratching. Totally jealous. Totally amusing.

And when it was bedtime, I swear, Ozzy would give one last disdainful glance at Monty as if to say, Hah. I get to sleep with them. That'll show you who's king around this place.

Tonight, Monty goes home. I'll bet he'll miss us. But he shouldn't worry. Ozzy'll be making a return visit when we go up North in two weeks.



If you think it was easy getting this shot, think again.





Taking care of some business:

Haveil Havalim is up at Frum Satire.

Mazal Tov to my friend Mazi and her husband, Eli on the marriage of their son, Etan to Tamar. I am so sad to not be participating in this special day, but am so happy for everyone. Mazi, I miss you terribly.

And, אחרון, אחרון חביב--saving the best for last: Happy birthday to Isaac. Not getting older (well, maybe a little), getting better....