Please meet Billy, a.k.a., Chucklehead, Coconut Head, Silly Billy, Billy Bananas, Young Fur (Call the Midwife reference!), and The Dog With Too Many Nicknames. He’s a pom mix–basically, the world’s biggest pom. (Or at least Kalamazoo’s.)
We adopted him as a rescue two years ago when he was twelve. He is deaf and down to one tooth but otherwise in pretty good health for a senior.
At right is the “punkinhead” picture that got him adopted.
Billy’s not one of those dogs who gets all sloppy and emotional on you. He’s chill, an impartial observer. He keeps his distance. He’ll only smooch under duress. Basically, he’s 40 pounds of attitude in a 20 pound dog.
There’s only one exception: kids. Billy loves kids. All kids, from preschool on up. When he sees a kid, he drops all pretense and turns into a wagging, grinning, kissing bundle of OMG C’MON LET’S PLAY!!!!!
I love this behavior, but it also obsesses me. Like many rescue parents, probably, I’m haunted by Billy’s unknown past and how he wound up in a shelter. I’m guessing he lived for many years in a household with kids. Did he run away? Did they dump him for the crime of getting old? Or is it another story entirely? These are unanswerable questions that, if I think about them too long, will drive me crazy. So I try not to.
Anyhow, back to the ‘tude. I asked him to model, and this is what I got:
I told him it was for Balloon Juice, and he responded accordingly:
Oh yeah, I forgot one of his nicknames: Stinkerbelle.
Baud
Yay Bill!
Amir Khalid
I like Bill. Bill is cool.
(When I saw the post headline under Recent Posts, I thought this was going to be about Bill the Clinton. Which made me think, “Here we go again.” So glad it’s about this delightful old fellow.)
Baud
BTW, who are you? And more importantly, are you here to support Baud! 2016!?
TaMara (BHF)
That is one adorable dog. Glad he’s found a forever home and a place on the BJ front page.
My morning started off with a shock. That tornado that hit Cape Coral, FL, took out half my brother’s house, two of their cars (tossed one on top of the other) and most of their block was damaged. Luckily they were out to dinner and the cats survived, so the important things are ok.
But being 1500 miles away is difficult this morning.
Baud
@TaMara (BHF): Oh my. That’s awful. Glad everyone is safe.
debit
What a cutie! Both my dogs are adopted seniors and are just the best dogs.
@TaMara (BHF): Holy crap! Glad everyone’s ok, but that’s still a horrible situation.
MomSense
@TaMara (BHF):
Oh no! Glad they are all ok.
Adorable dog. I notice your sofa is quite lovely. Obviously your dog doesn’t share my dog’s love for upholstery foam. Sigh.
JPL
@TaMara (BHF): That is awful, but I’m glad that everyone is okay. Houses can be rebuilt.
What a cute pup!
TaMara (BHF)
@MomSense: Oh, no, have the puppies taken out their “fun” on your couch? So far, Bixby has only pulled the skirt off mine. Though he did eat the back of the driver’s seat on my NEW car.
Baud
@MomSense:
Ha. My couch cushions are sad sacks indeed.
Hillary Rettig
@Baud: If I’m the one you’re asking “who are you?” I’m a writer, activist, native New Yorker (Bronx), subsequent resident of Ithaca and Boston, and some other things. Also, longtime reader of BJ if infrequent commenter. I’m also solidly for Baud in 2016, but only if Bernie drops out of the race. When is Ben and Jerry’s coming out with your ice cream? :-)
ps – this seems as good as time as any to apologize for my fuzzy photos. I have a small hand tremor–nothing serious, but it makes it hard for me to task crisp photos even with the anti-shake thingamajiggie enabled. Also, in this case the fuzziness of the photo was amplified by the extreme fuzziness of the dog. I do have a tripod and guess I should start using it. Other suggestions welcome.
TaMara (BHF)
This is a photo of their damage from the local NBC station. I was standing at my computer with the page open when my brother called to tell me what happened. It would have been the first thing I saw if I hadn’t picked up the phone.
If they’d been home, the palm tree landed where they probably would have waited out the storm.
Hillary Rettig
@TaMara (BHF): Wow. I’m glad no one was hurt. Reminds me of my Long Island cousins after Superstorm Sandy. And it IS tough to be far away in such circumstances.
Baud
@Hillary Rettig:
I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.
You do realize John Cole owns this blog and have seen his pictures, right?
Hillary Rettig
@MomSense: Remember – he only has one tooth! There’s a limit to the damage he can do.
Baud
@TaMara (BHF): Damn.
TaMara (BHF)
@Hillary Rettig: LOL. Your photos are fine – you do remember the many fine works by our blog host. Trust me, yours are great. :-) (counting the minutes until John takes away my keys).
Hillary Rettig
@Baud: Also, I should mention that I’m a former foster mom of four Sudanese teenaged refugees (a.k.a., “Lost Boys”) and a living kidney donor. If anyone wants info or support on either of those endeavors I would be happy to provide. Both fantastic experiences.
WereBear
Some pets are Sean Penn. Some are William Shatner.
Hillary Rettig
@TaMara (BHF): that photo is really horrifying.
ThresherK
My first cat (all my own) was the sweetest cat ever. She was continually next to me, in my lap, sleeping on my reclining form, or perched on my shoulder. It got so her being in my lap (or my wife’s, in my absence) and petting her was so automatic we didn’t know we were doing it.
My wife asked her “Are you sure you’re not a dog?”
Conversely, Bill seems like a dog who acts like a cat.
Baud
@Hillary Rettig:
Yeah, it’s overachievers like you and Obama that make the Democratic Party so difficult for ordinary Americans to relate to.
That’s why I am the perfect candidate. I don’t have that problem.
Hillary Rettig
@ThresherK: I think so!
Amir Khalid
I just realised
whatwho that photo of Bill in a hood reminds me of: Paddington Bear!WereBear
@TaMara (BHF): So sorry to hear. At least no beings were hurt. It is important.
Hillary Rettig
@Baud: If it makes you feel any better, one of the foster kids once told me, “My life with you is worse than the refugee camp.” ;-)
When I tell that to people who haven’t had teens, they’re horrified. When I tell it to people who have, they’re all, “Big deal, my kid used to tell me every week he wanted to be homeless.”
Denali
@Baud,
I relate to you.
Hillary Rettig
@Amir Khalid: we usually go for the teddy bear cut. he’s got really thick fur so you can basically do topiary on him. if he ever makes me really mad, I’ll post the picture of him with his lion cut and his azz shaved.
Baud
@Denali: And I you.
Shell
My previous dog, Clemmie, reminds me of Bill. She was rather reserved. Not a big lover. Perfectly happy with her backyard, her couch, her four pm dinner time. But don’t ask her to go or do much of anything else. The car meant a vet visit and nothing else. Some of her behaviors, at least at the beginning, made me think, not happily, of what she might have been put thru in her previous life.
The current resident, Kate, also a shelter dog, couldn’t be more opposite. A complete love sponge. LOVES the car and wants to go everywhere and do everything. You never know.
Shell
@Hillary Rettig: And when they’re pre-teens they fantasize whether they’re adopted.
Baud
@Hillary Rettig: Maybe he came from one of those fancy refugee camps.
MomSense
@Baud:
Well you already had my vote even before your I feel your pain comment. You’re also the candidate I’d most like to have a beer with.
Putting in a plug for the endowments President Baud will hand over to my care, PBS has video on their site,and on demand, of the recent White House concert celebrating the anniversary of LBJ signing the endowments for arts and humanities into law. The concert is a lot of fun.
Oh and fuck LBJ for Raven.
Eric U.
we have an elkhound that we got from my mother. She had taken lots of time to come up with the name “Elkie” — which is what people call all elkhounds. It’s like calling you dachshund “doxie”. I’m really thinking about stealing the name Stinkerbelle, for various reasons.
All of our dogs are emotional wrecks. One of them was nearly starved to death, not by the owner, but by the owner’s roommate. He acts like I’m going to hit him sometimes. The other needs someone around at all times. Apparently he was feral when the rescue people got him, but he was trained with the electric fence. The elkhound is on prozac to combat anti-dog violence. She’s a lot happier on the drugs, that’s for sure.
bemused senior
Congrats on having a great senior dog. My precious Toro, adopted from Muttville Senior Dog Rescue, was my first dog since I was a young teenager. Senior dogs rule! Sadly, my Toro passed away on Thursday from congestive heart failure, and I have rediscovered the fact that you can love a creature with all your heart after only having him in your life for 2 and a quarter years. He was supposedly 7 or 8 when I got him, so 9 or 10 when he passed. He loved every person he met, and became an instant nanny dog when my daughter had her twins in October (her family lives with me.) I wish I believed there was a heaven, because he would be there running free if there were.
JPL
@Baud: Typed like a true presidential candidate. All you need to do now is write a book.
MattF
Kalamazoo! I used to visit Kalamazoo regularly when I had a couple of biologist friends who worked at Upjohn. But that, as they say, was then. I recall that the courthouse parking lot had a sign that read “No Parking. Prosecutors Will Be Violated.”
different-church-lady
What are ‘Nicknames Paul LePage has for people he imagines are knocking up Maine’s white girls’?
Inside thoughts getting outside for $600, Alex.
tybee
@Eric U.:
we have an elkhound/chow mix and the older he gets, the less he plays well with other dogs.
wasn’t an issue as a pup but now….
MomSense
@Hillary Rettig:
So I only have to wait 12 or so years to have nice things.
I’ve been called the meanest mom in the whole world more times than I can count. My favorite is when they tell me that Their friends’ parents never make them clean ______.
MomSense
@different-church-lady:
No, it’s not just the white girls now. He meant to say Maine women. I’m hoping,in my case, for D-Money.
Felonius Monk
@Baud:
That’s usually been the problem: too out of focus to be seen.
Hillary Rettig
@MattF: @different-church-lady: OK I LOLed
Corner Stone
@MomSense:
There are a lot of things history should hold LBJ accountable for, but that probably isn’t one of them. I mean, the man had some responsibility for a lot of kids dying but he wasn’t a total monster!
Hillary Rettig
@Eric U.: Sounds like a lovely extended dog family.
Corner Stone
@TaMara (BHF): Your brother and them? I think they may be doing driving wrong.
Hillary Rettig
@bemused senior: Oh I’m so sorry. We just lost Billy’s brother, Petey, two weeks ago. I’ll probably be posting about him soon. I’m sure Toro had a wonderful life with you and knew he was loved. It is so hard that they go so fast. I wish you peace, and yes, although I’m atheist, I do hope there is a heaven where we are all reunited.
Dusty Reeds
What a great dog…..he’s a love.
Hillary Rettig
@MattF: I will keep an eye out for that sign.
MomSense
@Corner Stone:
I know. It’s a long list of great and one bad of horrific.
Corner Stone
Christopher Walken is the best.
Felonius Monk
@MomSense: That concert was great. We watched it Friday night on PBS.
Hillary Rettig
@Shell: It’s amazing how strong their personalities can be. The thing about Billy is that he acts all chill, but he’s really a little shadow – follows me from room to room. Not immediately – I’ll go into the next room; and then, a few seconds later Billy wanders in, seemingly at random. He’s all, “Are you in here, too? I had no idea.”
At least till his dad gets home from work, and then I’m history.
MomSense
@Felonius Monk:
It really was good. The first couple cuteness was off the charts, too.
Felonius Monk
@MomSense: First time I ever saw or heard Esperanza Spalding. She really has a marvelous voice and what a bass player.
MomSense
@Felonius Monk:
She’s fantastic. She made Sting cry (me too) when she sang to him during his Kennedy center tribute.
gogol's wife
Bill is cool.
raven
We lost Raven 7 years ago. One of my best “name”memories came when we were at a yard sale. There was a nice lil ol lady there and she asked his name. I said, “well, his name is Raven but we call him Boo-Boo and he answers to Stinky”. She said, “my vet said if a dog has more than none name they are truly loved”!
Mike J
To prepare for today’s game, Seattle kicker Steven Hauschka put his balls in a freezer.
Current temp at Minneapolis, -4°F (-20°C).
sparrow
I understand about that obsession-with-past-lives thing.
I have a rescue cat that came with one of those cat toys where a ball goes around in a fixed track in a circle surrounding a little cardboard scratchy pad (the foster mother gave it to me).
The cat is 100% cat, and couldn’t care less about you, or your desire for pets, or purring kitties or any of that nonsense EXCEPT when she wants to play with the ball toy. She walks over to it, swats it a few times, and then runs up to me for “congratulations”. She actually purrs loudly, meows and paws at me until I pet her and say “good girl, Mina”. Then she trots back to the toy, and wacks the ball a few more times before coming back for congratulations. She will do this for an hour if you let her. It’s totally bizarre and I keep trying to come up with theories about how she got into this little weird habit.
Snarkworth
Hello, Hillary! Enjoyed your book about procrastination. I fully intend to put your principles into action. One of these days.
MomSense
@bemused senior:
Really sorry to hear about Toro.
Origuy
A friend of mine is a vet tech currently between jobs. She and her husband took a vacation to Hawaii last month. They met a guy on Kauai who had a Rhodesian Ridgeback about to have puppies. He wanted her to stay with the dog while she had the pups and until they were a few weeks old. Apparently he has a lot of money. She went back to Michigan for Christmas, then he paid for her to fly back. The puppies were born on the 30th, nine of them. She’s been posting pictures on Facebook. All she has to do is take care of mom and the puppies and go to the beach.
Corner Stone
@Origuy: Sounds like it has a little “Indecent Proposal”-esque capacity.
Hillary Rettig
@Snarkworth: ha ha never heard that joke before ;-/ like your UID, too
Hillary Rettig
@raven: :-) I’m sorry you lost your baby.
Hillary Rettig
@sparrow: so interesting – and I love well-observed pet stories.
raven
@Hillary Rettig: Aw he’s been gone for a long long time. It’s strange to watch Bohdi age and we don’t even know how old Lil Bit is so we just have to enjoy every second with them.
Corner Stone
I guess there was too much energy expended on yesterday’s games and no one has any left for the NFC contests.
nutella
@Amir Khalid:
Yes. I’d rather hear about puppy dog Bill than horndog Bill.
rikyrah
WRITING A WRONG: U.S. publishers shunned books about important African-Americans for decades because of racism
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, January 9, 2016, 12:00 PM
A clarion call of civil rights activists is that black lives matter. What would happen if they were essentially written off entirely? The question is far from rhetorical, because the U.S. publishing industry cast most African-American life stories into oblivion for much of the country’s history.
Before demands for racial justice rocked the nation in the 1960s, leading publishers produced stunningly few biographies or autobiographies of black figures, no matter how triumphant or tragic, virtuous or vice-ridden their life stories.
Founded in 1924, Simon & Schuster published its first African-American biography in 1968. The work was an illustrated children’s book, “Harriet and the Promised Land,” which tailors the story of Harriet Tubman’s heroism on the Underground Railroad for juvenile readers.
When Holt, Rinehart & Winston marketed Coretta Scott King’s memoir, “My Life with Martin Luther King Jr.,” in 1969, the company and its predecessor firms had previously accepted just three blacks as subjects for biography or autobiography.
When Random House brought out Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” also in 1969, the firm had published five African-American narratives since it was founded in 1927.
The book industry’s aversion to black biographies and memoirs extended even to celebrities who would presumably have generated the greatest popular interest.
Origuy
@Corner Stone: Yeah, I wondered about that, but it sounds like he’s on the up and up. Just wanted someone to be sure the puppies are healthy. Purebred Rhodesians are probably worth a lot of money.
Steeplejack
@MattF:
Parking signs can be funny. The ones that crack me up in the Ballston section of Arlington say: “All may park. All must pay.” Sounds almost medieval.
raven
Dude smashed his face.
gene108
@Hillary Rettig:
Damn! When I saw the link to “living kidney donor”, I thought SCORE…maybe I could sweet talk her into getting one of her healthy, healthy kidneys…
But alas, you already did your noble deed, so one less kidney for me.
Hopefully I can put off needing a transplant for a little while longer, but I am getting evaluated and on the transplant list on the 18th.
If my mother and brother are compatible, they are both willing to be live donors, so at least I have that going for me.
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
I just gingerly turned on the TV and was met by the dulcet tones of Al Michaels. Ugh.
ETA: And I see a football thread has just opened upstairs.
Shell
@Steeplejack: Very “Game Of Thrones”
Glidwrith
@sparrow: My rescue, Pumpkin, dark-tortie always waits for permission to jump up on the bed or couch. She will sit and stare and stare and stare. No meows, no pitty-paws, just stare until you pat-pat the couch.
Oh, and there has to be a fuzzy blanket on the couch.
What kind of cat asks for permission to do anything?
Linnaeus
So Balloon Juice now has a gal in Kalamazoo.
bemused
@Glidwrith:
She’s not asking for your permission. Most felines would not stoop to that type of obsequious canine behavior. She wants to be there but not until her humans have met her conditions and begged her sufficiently. Cats refuse to be taken for pushovers.
delk
No such thing as “too many nicknames” for a dog.
My guy has dozens of them, most of which make zero sense at all.
bystander
Recently saw a play about Greg, a man in full midlife lethargy who rescues a dog, the eponymous “Sylvia”. A.R. Gurney wrote Sylvia to be played by an actress who could convey doggyness while delivering Sylvia’s observations. Pretty funny.
When the male lead voices concerns that he will never know the truth about Sylvia’s previous owner(s), Sylvia says, no, you won’t. The secret is hers. I found it incredibly touching.
Ruckus
@Glidwrith:
My roommates cat waits to jump in my lap till I tell her. She does however howl for attention, which she will allow for maybe 10 minutes and then saunter off. She is gorgeous, sliver gray and white though, which seems to make up for it all.
Pogonip
@TaMara (BHF): Sorry to hear that! I hope they had good insurance!
Hillary Rettig
@rikyrah: why am I not surprised? still, very shocking numbers.
related:
http://www.salon.com/2010/01/19/cover_whitewashing/
Hillary Rettig
@gene108: Donating was absolutely one of the best things I ever did, and I would do it again in a flash. I hope your mom or brother is a good fit. Please keep us posted; I will be thinking about you and keeping fingers crossed.
Hillary Rettig
@bystander: keep hearing about this play; must check it out.
Pogonip
Bill, the dog, is a cutie!
geg6
@delk:
I agree. My fave for Koda is Coco Puffs or Puffers. Lovey is Squidget or Squidgie. I don’t know why but they fit.
ETA: And Bill is adorable!
delk
@geg6: My dog is named Gav.
Gavatron 2000, Spotso, Arabica Bean, Cold Case File, Ocarina, Butter Lamb, Kit Kat Bar and tons more, lol
Cckids
@MomSense:
Lol. A favorite memory of mine is of my daughter & a friend, after a play date I made them pick up the stuff they’d strewn around. I was in the next room & heard the friend stage whisper “Is she always like this? It’s like we’re the help”.
Mnemosyne
I would post an adorable story about the cats, but Charlotte has decided that she wants to antagonize Annie this afternoon, so I have to keep stopping what I’m doing to steer her away every time Annie starts growling. Cats!
pea
i wish, i wish, that abandoned animals/children/emotionally abused, et al…came with some kind of “blackbox cam”…my rescued/abused dogs zeke and kiva brought a guy home for lunch one day..he stayed for 6 years…he went crazy for my godson. one day, in his sleep, his tail pounded…it hurt me to think he was dreaming of his “boy”…was he dumped or perhaps bolted in a thunderstorm (petey started freaking before there was a cloud in the sky…)
the entire human race suffers from “post traumatic distress disorder”.
until we deal with it, no life form is safe.
BillinGlendaleCA
My Conni is a Pom mix, a YorkiPom. She’s very, very affectionate. Bill looks alot like her, but bigger and Bill is such a good name?.
sparrow
@Glidwrith: exactly! Although my Mina knows well my feelings on things, and tries to go against the rules sneakily. She veritably stalks my water glasses. She is capable of nonchalantly getting closer to my water glass at like 1 inch per hour until close enough to drink the goodness that is human-intended drinking water (same as pet drinking water, but somehow still preferable).