Dogs' letters to God.

A while ago, I-Mei got this little illustrated book called "Pets' letter to God" by Marck Bricklin. You probably have already heard some of them but for those who haven't, here are a few of them with Ginga and Booboo-related comments:

"Dear God,
How come people love to smell flowers, but seldom, if ever, smell one another? Where are their priorities?"
(Booboo always makes a point to smell his humans after they are done with house cleaning. Ginga only smells them to check their pockets for treats. Humans do smell each other but only against their will and in the confined spaces of an airplane.... not pleasant after all)

"Dear God,
When we get to Heaven, can we sit on your couch? Or is it the same old story?"
(Ginga and Booboo are considered semi-gods in Lafayette so they decide who gets on the couch.)

Dear God,
Excuse me, but why are there cars named after the jaguar, the cougar,the mustang, the colt, the stingray, and the rabbit, but not one named for a dog? How often do you see a cougar riding around? We dogs love a nice ride! I know every breed cannot have its own model, but it would be easy to rename the Chrysler Eagle the Chrysler Beagle!
( I believe there is a red Celica called the Gingamobile but I could be wrong)

Dear God,
If a dog barks his head off in the forest and no human hears him, is he still a bad dog?
( Sartre says no, Nietzsche says define bad, and Lassie says woof. Lassie would be correct. )

Dear God,
When my foster mom's friend comes over to our house, he smells like musk! What's he been rolling around in?
( That would be "Le male" by J-P Gauthier.....almost as horrendous as Airplane scents )

Dear God,
If we come back as humans, is that good or bad?
( I-Mei's take:"I would never wish such plight on any dogs" )

Dear God,
We dogs can understand human verbal instructions, hand signals, whistles, horns, clickers, beepers, scent IDs, electromagnetic energy fields, and frisbee flight paths. What do humans understand?
(I-mei again: "not much ...at least they guys I know")

Dear God,
Are there dogs on other planets, or are we alone? I have been howling at the moon and stars for a long time, but all I ever hear back is the beagle across the street!
( Indeed we know for a fact that Snoop Dog is from Pluto.... or that planet that used to be)

Dear God,
Are there mailmen in Heaven? If there are, will I have to apologize?
(Nope, God has e-mail now. )

Dear God,
Is it true that dogs are not allowed in restaurants because we can't make up our minds what NOT to order? Or is it the carpet again?
( It all started when Ginga and Booboo tried to order from the DQ drive thru ....)

Dear God,
Is thunder absolutely necessary?
( Booboo: yeah, what's up with that ?)

Dear God,
How do I get rid of dog breath?"
( and morning breath for humans as well please )

Dear God,
Please Pass this message along to my so-called master:
Why are you trying to teach me to roll over and play dead? Do you find that funny? Funny how?"
( Ginga: yeah, what's up with that ?)

Snow and the World of Dogs

The snow fell... GingaBoo were on vacation... but Ginga's daddy aka BooBoo's brother aka BooBoo's uncle (me) showed up to take them for a walk. Otherwise they forget what discipline and not getting spoilt is all about :D. Ginga and I left our footprints in the snow...

I decided to give the doggies a job - to secure the perimeter. Ginga was a little better at this than BooBoo. BooBoo wanted to dig holes in the fence to get to the rabbits on the other side. Ginga actually checked out stuff that I told him to and then quizzically looked up at me. I guess whatever it was wasn't a threat.

After the hard work of guarding the perimeter, Ginga and BooBoo took off to find some small four-leggeds spies to get news of possible intruders from the other side of the fence (at least that's what they told us):

Squeezing the rabbits for information was hard work, BooBoo comes back for a snack:

After gathering information about insurgents from the spies, BooBoo had some fun in the snow:

Cleo is the love child of Ginga and Booboo

The more we observe Cleo, the more we come to realize that she is a perfect blend of Ginga and Booboo. Except for the cat part, of course.

Cleo's defining traits:
A shiny black fur - from BooBoo
A slight weight issue - from Ginga
Total focus around dinner time - from Ginga
Occasional 5 minutes of total madness - from BooBoo
Fondness for dynamic toys - from BooBoo and Ginga
A blanket of love - from BooBoo
Vocal expression of displeasure or annoyance - from BooBoo

Now the real question is: who has got the maternal instinct, Ginga or BooBoo?

Blanket of Love

BooBoo loves his blanket, sometimes inappropriately, but does not enjoy it unless Ginga gives him a little fight for it. (He thinks the blanket is impressed by his strength.)

Ginga normally loses, but he uses his weight advantage to keep the blanket away from BooBoo. BooBoo barks at him to let him know that as the loser Ginga has to give up Mrs. Boo aka blanket.

Success! The vile Ginga has handed over the yellow maiden and BooBoo can enjoy the fruits of his labour.

Tired but happy!

update: Ginga and Boo wrestling for the heart of the "fair lady" (soundtrack: "new slang" the shins)

5 Doggie Secrets

5 Things you did not know about GingaBoo – Tagged by BooBoo’s daddy Lova of Rakoto’s Rants. Since GingaBoo are lazy and did not do this tag yet, I have taken on the task. So neither humans nor doggies can blame me if something leaks out that will hurt their prospects with rabbits or Kitty or prospective marriage partners.

1.
BooBoo has a grayish spot on his nose. When he was a puppy his mommy and aunty tried to rub it off thinking it was a stubborn piece of dirt. Luckily they did not succeed!

Ginga knew that I was his daddy when he first met me. Ignoring all the other people in the room he ran to me and was licking me all over. I knew I was Ginga’s daddy when I saw his picture for the first time... in his ex-mom's email saying she couldn’t take him to Tokyo with her. And to all those who think I am insane for having a sixth sense type doggie connection, read Karen’s book Dogs of Dreamtime, spiritual connections with doggies (and coyotes) happen to other people too.

2.
BooBoo has a ‘blanket of love’ that he uses once in a while. He’s had it all his life, he took it over from one of his aunties (she had no intention of letting him keep it but she melted… well actually she did not want it back after all the love BooBoo had shown towards it). These days he does not totally appreciate the blanket unless Ginga fights for it with him beforehand. BooBoo is like the knights of yore looking for a romantic battle followed by the ride off into the sunset with the fair maiden.

Ginga comes asking for massage almost as much as he comes asking for food. Then he keeps repositioning himself so that you have easy access to wherever he wants to be massaged. Waiting to be massaged and the thought of food trigger his mmm… what should I call it… love center.

3.
BooBoo almost never sheds his hair. But it has an uncanny ability to wind up in the most surprising of places. I found some BooBoo hair in the microwave and some in the freezer. Lord alone knows how it got there.

Ginga sheds a lot, but it stays on the carpet and does not show up on top of the TV or anything. In additional to his normal shedding, twice a year he has extremely insane amounts of shedding for 2-3 weeks.

4.
BooBoo has an epileptic seizure about once a month. His muscles involuntarily contract but he never loses his head over it. It’s very distressing for us when it happens but we have learnt to live with it – he’s a bit tired afterwards but it doesn’t seem to hurt. Usually happens when he is most relaxed.

Ginga waited by the verandah door for about 4 days after he first came to live with us. He would stare outside and look very sad, and sometimes make Ginganzee noises (a little like a chimpanzee). I think he missed his mummy.

5. BooBoo’s full name is Boo Nutella Rakotomalala. His nicknames are Boober (Ranjit), BooBoowa (Imei), Fluffy (Lova – when BooBoo is slightly wet his hair fluffs up), BooBoo mouse (Doc).

Ginga’s full name is Ginga Fatass Warrier. His nicknames are Ginganzee, n’gaa n’gaa (ങ്ങാ ങ്ങാ), Fatass, Schweinsteiger (after the German footballer) (Ranjit), solid (Lova), Gingee and Gingeemouse (Doc, I-mei).

Lova says things like nafuney and nafunana when he’s around both doggies. Not sure what this means but it’s probably better than calling them with the Malagasy whistle.