Dogs of Summer

I have been somewhat neglecting this blog of late; Olive has been keeping me busy with walks, her newfound fondness for jumping into the pond in my townhouse complex, chasing the foam rubber saucer, and walks ad infinitum.

Olive got together again for a play date with Rory, the berger picard puppy who lives with my friends Harry and Sara. This time we kept Olive away from the cat, but the two dogs had a good time together. Harry put together a photo essay of their "game" which I tried to post on this blog without success. I did forward it to a number of people as an attachment to an email, and post my favorite photo from the essay below.

Somehow two photos got in there but that's ok, I like both of them. The two together capture the essence of their "game". In any event, I'm glad that the two seem to get along well.

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One thing that has gotten in the way of updating this blog is that I have taken on the duties of secretary of the Cetacean Society International, a group dedicated to the study and preservation of whales. Writing up the minutes to board meetings has turned out to be more work than I had expected, though I am not sorry to have taken that responsibility. It forces me to have a handle on what is going on in the Society.

The Society's predecessor organization, the Connecticut Cetacean Society, was largely responsible for the whale being declared Connecticut's state animal during the 1970s. Around that time the Society undertook a project to build a life-sized concrete model of a male humpback whale. That model sits today on the grounds of the Children's Museum, a science museum in West Hartford. This coming June 25 marks the 40th anniversary of the whale model's unveiling. Dubbed "Conny", it is believed to be the only life size concrete whale model in the world. A celebration is planned for June 25. A photo of Conny is below.

Everything about Conny is made to scale. I learned recently that a glass artisan donated his talents to make Conny's eyes when Conny was built, so as to be the size of a real sperm whale's eyes. Visitors can even walk inside Conny through an entrance not visible in the above photo.  No, one cannot get in through his mouth.

http://csiwhalesalive.org/csi_about.html

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I became concerned recently when I noticed some plaque buildup on Olive's teeth. The veterinarian had recommended brushing her teeth daily a year ago; Olive refused to cooperate until I gave up and hoped that giving her commercially available treats claiming to clean a dog's teeth would be better than nothing. Upon seeing that the treats are not working all that well, I resolved to try again. I picked up a tube of dog toothpaste at a Petco store and dug out the finger-tip toothbrush I tried before. This time, although she clearly does not like it and is not fully cooperative, she is letting me get into her mouth and do something. Each day I consider it an accomplishment if I can get at even three teeth, but it's better than nothing. I do want my dog to have healthy teeth her whole life. I wish I could make her understand that.

Ouch! The price of a tube of dog toothpaste is nearly twice the price of human toothpaste. Could it be the chicken flavor?