Me too
March 4, 2009
Cassandra put on a tiara and her best royal attitude to become a princess for her big sister’s birthday party.
The princess Cassandra
Growing Up
March 3, 2009
Snoozing
Tawzalt and Cassandra are pals
Theodora and Cassandra and Tawzalt
Regal
Eyes
“Help” with the snow removal
March 2, 2009
We had a pretty big snow storm last night, about 6 or 7 inches or hock-deep on an azawakh. The dogs are a little ambivalent about the stuff. They have fun with it until they start to get really cold. For Tawzalt, this is her first experience with proper fluffy snow that hasn’t been adulterated by a nasty skin of ice caused by freezing rain.
They were very helpful at un-shoveling the snow as I cleared it.
Tawzalt is starting to feel the cold after some crazed digging
What is this crazy stuff?
Snow Digger
Azeloan with his snow ball
Havoc wreaked, it's quittin' time.
Our Sophie
February 27, 2009
In 1996 just outside of a small West African village my wife (though at the time we were just dating), Christie, recovered a tiny, wailing puppy in the Bush. The puppy was alone without littermates and with no bitch in sight. We later learned that when a bitch has an undesirable litter of puppies one way of getting rid of the problem was to have boys spread the puppies out into the bush as far apart as possible in hopes that they will die before the bitch finds them. In general this was a practice of people who considered the dogs to be a sort of large rat in the first place and never wanted the bitch hanging around in the first place. Among the Mandinka people with whom we lived in that particular corner of Africa, dogs are absolute pariahs who survive on the food waste and trash that is discarded over the compound wall.
Sophie from infant to adult
The puppy was so tiny that her eyes were not yet open. It was much too young to have been weaned. We didn’t have anything like bottles or formula to nurse this dog. Christie bought a can of condensed milk at the little village store and dribbled it into the puppy’s mouth with her finger. I found out about the new little family member by bush letter, which is to say that Christie wrote me a letter and gave it to a passing car headed in my direction and which was eventually delivered to me. At the time I was working a couple of hundred miles away. When I read the letter I as completely stunned. I couldn’t imagine how we could possibly take care of a tiny puppy, but we did and I managed to overfeed her so that she was fat. When it was time for us to return to the USA we brought her with us.
Postscript
A friend asked me what was wrong with her tail because it looks like it is chopped off in the top photo and the other two photos don’t show it. The answer is nothing was wrong with it. She had a normal tail. The top picture is just framed awkwardly and the tail is hidden rather abruptly by a tree stump that is barely visible at the edge of the picture.
West African Working Bush Dog
February 26, 2009
These are photographs of photographs I took in 1997 in The Gambia. The dog is one of three that serve as guardians for a beautiful herd of Fulani cattle. The structural conformation is very much like an Azawakh but many of the “bush dogs” in that area tend to be quite rustic and unrefined. Specimens with one or both ears erect were not uncommon, tails tendto be thick-ish and the hair was usually somewhat longer than is typical of Azawakh. The temperament is the same as typical of Azawakh. I believe these dogs and Azawakh are very closely related.
It was common practice for male working dogs to have cropped ears. I’m not sure if the primary purpose was to proactively prevent torn ears or to identify the dog as owned by someone (and therefore not to be killed).
West African bush dog protecting his cows
After thieves, the biggest risk to cattle might have been hyenas. The bush dogs that guard herds were expected to keep hyenas at bay.
West African Hyenas, the enemy of the bush dog
The Warm Spot
February 5, 2009
Today it is 15 F outside and a wicked wind is blowing. Azelouan found himself a nice warm spot in the sun to warm his bones.
Azelouan in his warm, sunny spot
Today we have sunshine
February 2, 2009
It seems like forever since we have had anything but grey skies and below-normal temperatures. The dogs definitely noticed the improvement. Tawzalt came into my office to bask herself.
Tawzalt basking in the warm sunlight
Enjoying the sun, but still still watchful.
Azawakh in Djerma
January 29, 2009
The word “Azawakh” comes from the Djerma language, but it has nothing to do with dogs.
In Djerma azawa means north. Azawagh or azawad means land of to the north. The word the Djerma use for what we call the Azawakh dog is hansi or hanso (I’ve also seen it spelled hanshee and hanshii).
The really fascinating thing is that there are three gender forms. One for dog and two for bitch. The Djerma have a different conjugation of the word dog for a bitch who has given birth and one who has not.
- hansi daŋ: dog (male)
- hansi way: bitch [has not given birth]
- hansi nya: bitch [has given birth]
A little bit of digging revealed that this is a feature of the Djerma language. For all livestock there are three gender forms: one for male, one for female-that-has-not-produced-offspring and one for female-that-has-produced-offspring.
Chicken
- goroŋgari (rooster)
- goroŋo way (hen)
- goroŋo nya (hen)
Camel
- yo mali (camel bull)
- yo way (camel cow)
- yo nya (camel cow)
This must be a culture with a deep tradition of animal breeding.
reference: http://www.djerma.nl/
“Stupid-Seeking Missiles”
January 22, 2009
This comment on The Old New Thing really cracked me up. I love it. My phrase of the day is now “stupid-seeking missiles”.
9 out of 10 “viruses” todays arent [sic] computer viruses in the classical sense. They are what I call “stupid seeking missiles,” which can only hit stupid people…
These Stupid Seeking Missiles scream “Click-on-me!!”, “Run me or else!!”, and other such stuff. Essentialy [sic], they spread precisely because somebody trusted it when they shouldn’t have.
Snuggle
January 21, 2009
Cassandra in jams snuggles Tawzalt
My wife insisted that Tawzalt needed an inaugural bath. If I say that Tawzalt detests being bathed it is not true only because detest is not a sufficiently negative verb. She does quite enjoy being snuggled and comforted by my daughters afteward, though.
