photo by Steve Penland

Friday, July 13, 2012

We Couldn't Be More Proud...

(Note: I'm a bit sick of discussing the many ways in which my skating currently sucks--and yes, it still does; well, other than one brief shining moment of "40.05-second-lap-time" at Wednesday's Summer Inline Series Race. So I'm not going to discuss my skating suckitude, at least not today.  Today, I will celebrate the achievement of another member of the LongTrackLife family...)


The Hubster and I do not have children.  It's not that we don't like kids (the well-behaved ones, anyway).  It's just that after we got married we were having so much fun skating and dirt biking and broomballing and what not that we never really got around to it.  And now I'm 48, so the days of "getting around to it" are pretty much a distant memory.  So we don't have kids.  But we have a dog.

Keira is a 5-year-old American Staghound.  The Staghound, a cross between a Greyhound and a Scottish Deerhound, perhaps with a dash of Irish Wolfhound thrown in for good measure, could perhaps be one of the first "designer" breeds (or in other words, a "mutt on purpose.").  Staghounds predate the currently-fashionable Doodles and Puggles and Schnoodles by a couple hundred years (and have a much less silly name).  Teddy Roosevelt reportedly hunted with a Staghound--for that is what Staghounds are bred for: hunting.  Specifically, hunting coyotes.

Keira, while a physically beautiful specimen of Staghound-dom, is a big fail in the "hunting coyotes" department.  Consequently, she was abandoned at the pound by her undoubtedly-unfeeling hunter owner, and eventually found her way into her current lap of luxury in the LongTrack household.

Here's Keira, channeling her inner hunter in a pose we call "Noble Staghound:"

Quite the case of Deceptive Packaging.  Here she is, expressing her true personality:
At any rate, she's sweet and funny and we love her, even if she does sleep most of the time.  However, there's always been one tiny area where the Hubster, at least, felt she could improve.

Greyhounds (we discovered when googling our new pet four years ago) like to sleep in a position referred to by their doting owners as "roaching" (short, apparently, for "Dead Cockroaching.")  Roaching is a flat-on-the-back, legs-sprawled-inelegantly, head-twisted-tongue-lolling event.  If you ever are feeling down and need a good laugh, search Google Images for "greyhound roaching." I dare you not to laugh.

At any rate, Keira, much to the Hubster's dismay, displayed neither a propensity for nor an interest in roaching.  For some reason, Hubster felt that Keira was not truly living up to her Greyhound ancestry if she didn't roach, and he frequently lamented the fact that her many amusing and endearing sleep positions did not include the iconic Greyhound Roach.

This spring, though, after several roachless years, there were glimmers of hope.  One day, the Hubster reported excitedly that Keira had assumed a half-way-on-her-back position--which the Hubster, with his unique way with words, dubbed "The Demi-Roach."

Here's the Demi-Roach:
Partly on her back, but no leg sprawl and only a partial head-twist...she still has a ways to go.

Then finally, at school one day during the last week or so before summer break, I received the following email:

"Full Roach finally achieved.  Photo attached."  And the following photo:

So all you parents, you can celebrate your child's 4.0 or selection to the travelling soccer team or whatever.  We've got one up on you.

Our dog learned to roach.


And we couldn't be more proud.

No comments:

Post a Comment