Dog Pee

Dog Pee
By Mary Durfee

As readers of this blog may recall, I have had a foster dog, Floppy, for nearly nine months. I was a novice dog owner in October, having only really interacted with cats. It has been quite an experience. Going on walks has been especially informative as one does not, as a rule, take them with cats. My dog had not really been taught to walk on a leash and he would have helped the Red Queen zoom even faster through Alice’s Wonderland—and to the same effect of not really getting anywhere.

As the struggle of just walking him got less intense, I’ve had occasion to wonder about dogs and dog pee. I realize this is hardly a scholarly topic, but with all these hours in Malta invested in walking that born and bred in Malta dog, I think it’s fair game for my blog.

I know that dogs leave notes to each other through their pee. We have our blogsophere, they have the dogosphere. Apparently, they can tell sex, size, when last came by, and perhaps individuals. I know my dog was suspicious that a new dog had arrived in the building, and it had to be from smell and the new markers. I was astounded by one enterprising little dog I saw once. He would do a “handstand” and pee with his hind legs in the air. Perhaps he had a “Napoleon complex” about his size.

One of the local females went into heat, and her pee was apparently ambrosia of the dogs, fraught with unspoken canine desire. My dog could moon over one of her wet spots indefinitely, if I let him. Other scents from her meant that every walk was a tug of war over whether to go to her front door. Perhaps he left “pick up” lines for her.

I also know that it’s perfectly sensible that dogs would have likely spots to pee (and the other event, as well). My husband claims I know all the likely good bathrooms from our house to St Louis, a previous sabbatical locale, and also all around Lake Superior. So, I am not surprised my dog has preferences. I don’t quite know, however, why some spots have to be carefully considered, from all physical angles, before a well-aimed shot can take place. What Jane Austen-like like doggy etiquette requires this considered response, I wonder?

But, I am most amazed at how he manages his pee. Mine seems to leave something about every 10 meters. Eventually he really lets loose. What I don’t get is how he can always have enough pee for whatever length walk we go on, so that the 10-meter rule can be obeyed. How can he determine that one walk will only be for a quick relief, while another might take 40 minutes?

I have a physical image of his bladder as a little train with boxcars, each with a tiny door. He drops his cargo in one place and new boxcars get added. Some of his “I was here” announcements require just a drib, while others take considerably more. So he can control his little railroad of dog pee. He can go from a dot to an “AHHHH stream” with no trouble.

Fulbrights and Palestinians--update

I was happy to learn today that Secretary of State Rice intervened in the matter of the Fulbrights being withdrawn from Palestinians. They have been restored, and the State Dept. is working with Israel to get the scholars their permissions to leave. Good for Sec. Rice. She did the right thing--and I'm a Democrat!

More Mt Etna

Mt Etna, Sicily

My friend, Josephine, and I did a tour of Mt. Etna through Sicily Life. It was fun with a driver and car for just the two of us. It was quite cloudy, so we only caught glimpses of the smoking top, still, the many lava flows that have made Sicily such a rich agricultural land are easy to see.

Taormina, Sicily

Goodness. If you've never been to Taormina, add the place to your life list of places you want to see. Josephine and I had a relaxing, happy, and beautiful time here. I hope to get back someday with my husband (and we will add Cefalu, which I have heard is a must see). It's hard to explain. Just a lovely town, even with the shops and many tourists like ourselves. The views of the sea and of Mt. Etna--though the weather was not quite cooperative in that we only saw the smoking top of Etna fleetingly--are lovely. We found Osteria di Rita and loved the food, the house wine in little pitchers, and the friendliness. We went out in the evening to look down at the bay and at Giardinia-Naxos and one of the local restaurants had a small group playing accordion, mandoline, tamborine and traditional songs.

The photo with the pool was the place we stayed, Hotel Belvedere, good service and nice breakfast. The other pictures, except the church, are taken from the public gardens.

Siracusa Duomo and views

Josephine (seated in restaurant) and I walked along the seawall and then up a bit to the old island of Ortygia. We also had our hotel here--Hotel Gran Bretagne (lots of stairs, no lift, friendly, clean, good location, relatively inexpensive, we liked it). We visited the Duomo and it's lovely piazza

Siracusa

I went to Sicily again in pursuit of my Thucydides hobby. I was very happy to have Josephine, a friend of mine, join me. It would just not have been as pleasant and fun without her.

Siracusa (Syracuse) is the location where the Athenians were soundly defeated, after a very poorly considered decision by the Athenians. Perhaps they would have succeeded, but conflict at home led to conflict on the command of the expedition to Syracuse. It was a disaster. There's little to indicate anything happened there--no signs, no mention, not even a copy of Thucydides to be found, though I noticed there were two streets, one named after the Syracusan leader (Hermocrates) and one after Thucydides.

Due to a misunderstanding on opening hours I did not get to the quarry where the Athenian prisoners where held after their defeat. But I have included one from another quarry in the Neopolis. The men were, in the heat of summer, forced by the thousands into the quarry. They died of thirst, hunger, and exposure. Kagan, a scholar who has written his own new history of the Peloponnesian War (excellent), says that some were bought and ultimately freed by locals if they knew lines from the latest plays by Euripedes.

So, a few views of the harbor and of a quarry.