Oscar...
Not a pet story, more of an obituary to a lost friend...

Oscar was my last dog, a Springer Spaniel, now sadly departed due to a perineal hernia. It was March when i lost him, and i suspect that he's going to be one of those pets that i'll always miss.

Anyone who's had Springers will know that they are, well, mental. There's no other way to put it. These dogs are nutters, and all the better for it. Oscar was no exception. Considering he was supposedly a gun dog, he was terrified of anything remotely gun-like and loud noises. He would chase the red spot from my air pistols laser sight around for hours on end though. In fact, he wasn't just scared of noises and guns, he was scared of everything. If i came home late at night, i'd see Oscar peeping around the top of the stairs to see who it was before coming down to greet me. If a new piece of furniture showed up, or i even left a cardboard box in the garden, he'd be terrified. It was comical watching him give a harmless box a wide berth whilst growling at it...

Meeting people was when Oscar's party piece came out; smiling. My Dad had somehow trained him to smile, which he would only do when he was genuinely happy. This was usually when he met someone, or was really desperate for a treat. This, however, proved to be the limit of his mental capacity. Attempts to teach him anything beyond, sit, lie down, and smile, were met with a growl and running away. Oscar growled a lot, usually at me. Most people found this strange, as i'd get right up in his face growling at him, and him growling back, baring has teeth, the lot, but he would never bite me. Well, he would bite me nose gently after smiling at me, or growl at me if i'd been away too long as if he was telling me off.

He did have issues with my girlfriend though. He thought she was his. This lead to many more growling incidents, especially if he got into the bedroom after me and her had just spent some "quality time"...

Anyway, that's enough reminiscing. I've just paid a deposit on my next dog. Not a Springer this time, but a Chocolate Labrador. I wanted another Springer, but her indoors has always had a thing for Labs. He's currently three weeks old and only able to crawl, suck, and crap. Named Indy for now, although that may change when we get him on the 9th of July.
(Chewy , masticating since 1978., Fri 8 Jun 2007, 14:37, Reply)