As I wrote before leaving, my visit to Santa Barbara was a bit of a sentimental journey to see my best friend Clare and her best friend Archie, who was recently diagnosed with canine cognitive dysfunction. Leaving them at the end of the visit was tough, but I’m not going to dwell on that here.
Instead, I’d like to talk about the good times.
Although Frankie was a little rascal, barking and even snapping at Archie, his visit seems to have perked up the Santa Barbara pup. Archie ignored his guest’s bad behavior, barely reacting when Frankie got in his face. And in keeping with a venerable tradition, they immediately got into competitive mode: Archie was only interested in the water in Frankie’s bowl, and vice versa.
More important, Archie, who hasn’t had much appetite lately, was terribly interested in Frankie’s food.
Frankie, naturally, attempted to eat Archie’s food, but I headed him off at the pass:
And here are the two of them, in tandem.
There’s more, but — bad WordPress, bad WordPress! — it’s taken me all day to post these photos. To be continued…
Funny how Archie’s frail hind legs held him up just fine when he was performing the stealth scarf, huh? Great shots!
Clare and I seem to have exchanged identities — possibly because I used her computer for one of my posts while I was visiting. In any case, that was Clare’s comment, not mine.
Looks like a moment of grace – the competitive gene kicking through whatever CCD that may have tried to show up and spoil the party.
Well put, Mary. To a (relative) outsider like me, Archie seemed very much himself in many ways, just older. Only someone who knows him and his habits intimately would be aware of the CCD.