Spirsie's Spheroid

So my wonderful, sweet little dog Spiro is not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. He's kind of like the bulb that blinks twice and then goes out for good. Much sweetness, not much smartness. My other dog, Oscar, is half border collie. Border collies are usually considered the smartest dog breed, and Oscar is no exception. He has a vocabulary of almost 100 words, and several spellings (W-A-L-K and C-A-R and R-I-D-E are among his favorites.).

Oscar is an exceedingly spoiled dog and he has numerous stuffed toys, all of which he knows by name. Spiro has had a tough life. We're not sure of his whole story, as he has only lived with us for about two years, but clearly his first nine years included beatings, being kicked, water deprivation, and lack of attention. You get the feeling that he was the kind of dog who'd never seen a toy before he came to our house. At nine years old, he was already a little old for learning to play with toys. In a way it's good, because Oscar is quite enamored with all of his toys, and never eager to share. Indeed, if his toys happen to act disloyal (by letting someone else play with them, for instance), they get a severe thrashing, possibly including limb amputations if the digression was especially egregious.

The one toy Oscar has never found particularly fun is ball. (Not enough limbs to tear off, perhaps.) Spiro LOVES ball. LOVES it. He doesn't play with it, he just carries it around everywhere. He adores ball.

Not long ago, we were talking to our next door neighbors in the front yard, and we left the front door open. Oscar wanted to play, so we sent him inside to find his beaver, a toy we knew was in a difficult location (we did it to shut him up). Several minutes later he trotted out with the beaver, and our neighbor was so impressed with him. So we began showing off, sending him inside for his squirrel, his piggy, his hog, his rope bone. He happily retrieved all of them (he was not so happy when we declined his vociferous invitations to play with each toy).

So I decided to teach Spiro a new word, so he can hold his own in canine intelligence in our house. Instead of ball, I now command Spiro to 'get his spheroid.' And he does. It's so cute. I'm pretty sure he is reacting to the words 'go get' rather than spheroid, but it still makes me laugh.

Spirsie and his spheroid. It just has a nice ring to it. Also, I'm a total nerd.