DOMINIC

Dominic

We got another dog.

That’s why there are chewed up gloves, tissue paper, socks, pieces of firewood and other sundry items strewn around our trailer. I have donated many articles for Saint Dominic’s edification. We definitely know we have a dog.

​They called him Dom at the SPCA. We call him Dominic. He’s an Italian Catholic Saint Dog.

Hay Field Monster

The Whitney Peer’s SPCA brought Dominic outside to meet us. We then all sat on the edge of a big truck tire and socialized. Dominic huddled down inside the tire and I think this intimate little greeting place was one of the reasons we got along with Dominic.

Dominic and Sue

Later on, after we left the SPCA and they went about checking our references, we went to Walmart in North Sydney. It was while Sue was walking down the aisle in front of me that I noticed the black marks on the back of her white pants. We then switched positions and she noticed the black marks on the back of my pants. We’d transferred some of the tire from the SPCA to our clothes. Fun was had by all.

Baddeck River Resident

A few days later we picked up Dominic and brought him home. We got along splendidly until I let out two humongous sneezes and it was bye, bye Dominic. 

​And wow! Dominic can move! Why our next door neighbour said after he ran past her house that he was running so fast that she thought he was a black poodle. He’s actually a terrier cross and may have some border collie in him with a pinch of retriever.

A Slippery Green Mini Baddeck Water Fall

I panicked after he ran away and the first morning after he took off, I went out to look for him. I thought I heard him barking somewhere in the forest. I immediately began tramping over or through ferns and brooks and prickles and downed trees and only stopped when I realized I was going to get lost and the barking wasn’t sounding any closer. I followed the sun back to the road. 

Lunch By Baddeck River

Later on, I discovered that it wasn’t Dominic barking, but a dog who every morning likes to take a wee walk to the road-side and bark a ‘good day’ to every passing vehicle. A neighbour told me that he thinks this dog’s life span will be short.

I put the word out on the social media and asked everyone I met to please keep an eye out for a little black dog. I asked a road construction flag woman to also keep an eye out for the dog and gave her my phone number. That night she kindly phoned me and asked if we’d found him. 

Dominic and Me

Two days later I got a phone call around eight am and was told that a neighbour had found Dominic. The dog had been sleeping on top of the man’s hen house. Apparently the neighbour went outside while it was still dark and saw two brown eyes staring at him. They were Saint Dominic’s eyes.

Cedar Wax Wing Near Cheticamp

Dominic goes to bed with us at night and doesn’t get up until we do. He doesn’t bark much at night and I think that’s because he was found wandering around the moors near Reserve Mines and had to be quiet at night. If he barked a big bad coyote might get him or something just as bad.

Early Morning

In the morning, when we get up, Dominic will jump off the bed, select an item of clothes from Sue’s clothing pile and take off for the living room. This morning he selected her white long-johns. We are modifying this behaviour.

​When you try to take something, like a good sock, away from him he doesn’t discriminate between the cloth and your hand. We are modifying this behaviour as we re-stock our first aid kit.

​He is a great jumper and likes to jump up and kiss or occasionally nip at your face. We are modifying.

Dominic Thinks About the Big Why

We were told he doesn’t bark much, but Dominic is a ferocious watch dog and if somebody comes near our place or he thinks somebody is near our place he goes into full alarm barking alert. I tried letting him out to see how he would deal with our friend who dropped around. I based my decision on the theory that he doesn’t bite and he didn’t but boy was he into the watch dog thing. We had to shout at him to calm down and then he did. He actually can be quite obedient. We are doing some modifying.

Enjoying Being On the Baddeck River

A friend visited us just after we got the dog and she used her big purse as a barrier between herself and Dominic who she feared would attack her. She kept her purse between her person and the dog even after Dominic had been told that she was a friend and with him now calmly sitting next to her chair.

Wee Birthday Celebration At Big Spruce

Dominic thinks that the side door of our trailer which leads to our wee side porch, is a next door neighbour’s townhouse’s door. So, when either one of us walks out that door he raises hell. He then runs inside to see if that door is actually part of our townhouse and then he checks out our townhouse to make sure that the real Sue or the real Larry is inside and not the next door neighbour who he’d seen step outside. 
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Dominic Plays Rough With Hannah

Dominic, who probably had to grab a quick coffee and a sandwich while on his continuous running regime, had a tendency, when he first arrived, to grab a sandwich or some other treat off our plates while we were eating. We are modifying this behaviour. He also likes to grab the occasional mud and stone sandwich.

A Little Piece Of Baddeck River

We have finally, so far, by having him sit on Sue’s lap in the truck, by driving not too far at first, giving him a treat after the drive and not allowing him in the back seat got him to not upchuck in the truck. He had vomited four times on four trips and we had to give him Gravol before he went in the truck with us. We’re hoping it was just nerves. We will continue to modify his vomiting behaviour.

River Walking Along and In Baddeck River

Ironically, although he ran like crazy when I sneezed and still gets crazy when we sneeze and now that I’ve almost blown a few hernias trying not to sneeze and when I do sneeze, he will run up to me and plead with his big brown eyes to please not sneeze. I’m trying to modify my sneezing behaviour.

The ironical part, as I’ve mentioned, is that he sticks to me like glue and sometimes we don’t tie him out. He just wants in, if I’m in and wants out, if I’m out.

Dominic and Sue are now having many pleasurable walks together as we begin to modify his behaviour. He used to not want to walk with Sue because he didn’t want to leave me.

​One day I mailed a letter just before Sue took Dominic out. When I got to the end of our lane I hid in the woods. I stood behind a big birch tree and peeked at the road. I saw Sue and Dominic walk by. Dominic thought I was ahead of them and when they were gone I walked back to the trailer. Dominic is not part blood hound.

We still had modifying to do and so some times when I knew that Sue was going to try and take Dominic for a walk I'd go into the bathroom, shut the door and turn on the clothes dryer. I then did my ostrich act. I sat on the pot while the dryer cut out the sounds of Sue cajoling Dominic into leaving me and going with her for a walk. After a little while of sitting on the pot and listening to the dryer, I then very carefully opened the bathroom door. If no black dog zipped into the bathroom I felt that things were probably going okay. I’d then peek out the neighbour’s townhouse door window and if Sue and Dominic were out of sight I could relax.

​What we do for Dominic!

Tenacity

Dominic doesn’t chase cars on the highway, but if they pass us on our dirt road he will wait until they pass and then make a beeline for them. I think he only chases things that he figures he can catch. We are doing some modifying here. 

​As you can tell, we are in the modifying business. However he is one sweet little dog and when I sit outside he immediately jumps up on the chair beside me and my buddy and I enjoy the time together. He’ll sometimes lean against me, turn his head, look up at me and give me a kiss.

Torey Walking Along Baddeck River

So, we put up with some of his rough edges as he begins to learn about our wacky life and as we try to figure out where he came from. We continuously ask the questions, ‘What is this little black dog all about? And how much of the modifying is being done by this little black dog?’
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