New doggie

[Jan]

So today, we got a new dog. He was born on December 30, 2009, so he's about 8 weeks old. His name is Montmorency, or, shortly, Monty. He seems to be very smart and brave. He has already discovered about 1/4 of the kitchen, and made a few small pools around. His natural environment seems to be snow. He loves it.

And a short quiz fo you: which (or whose) famous dog was called Montmorency? Don't google it - use your brain and memory. Hide your answer in a spoiler not to spoil it for other users. A small hint:

Spoiler

it's from a famous English novel.

[Ameena]

Cool, sounds cute ? What breed is he? Pictures?

[beowuuf]

Indeed, pictures. And I have no clue about the literature I'm afraid!

[Maven]

I thought it might be David Copperfield's first wife's dog. I remember she had a little one that was cute and a pain in the behind. But then I looked it up and it was named Jip.

[Jan]

I'll send some pictures later. Right now, he looks like one small ball of hair, so you won't see much.

The whole thing is actually a "cover-up" action. Because our neighbours were a bit (*coughs*) angry about our previous dog (fox-terrier) and the way in which he depleted their stocks of poultry and other domestic animals, we decided to "lull" them and make them feel safe and relaxed. So Monty is actually a poodle - a small doggie not able to cause any harm. Once our neighbours calm down and start saying "look, they have only a small poodle, there's nothing to worry about, so we can get new hens and chickens", we will buy a real dog (another fox-terrier), so we'll have two dogs, and the poodle will be a disguise for the fox-terrier. Hee hee hee. Moreover, we also need some time to restore our vegetable garden, which has been upside-down for many years because of the fox-terrier's actions.

Regarding the quiz: I'm surprised that nobody knows, even Ameena. As I said before, it's from a famous English book. Another hint:

Spoiler

This book was written in the 19th century, and the dog called Montmorency belonged to one of the travellers in the book.

[Ameena]

Lol, just because I like to read and work in a bookshop doesn't mean I know the ins and outs of every book every written . I'm not much up on my classics, I'm afraid - I know the titles and authors of quite a few, but that doesn't mean I know anything of their characters of plots . That said, the name "Montmorency" might sound vaguly familiar, I'm not sure. I keep thinking of Sherlock Holmes but I know I'mjust thinking of the bad guy, Moriarty. At least, I think he's the bad guy. Like I said, I've not really read any classics .
Anyway, aaww so Monty is a poodle then? Cool. I hope he doesn't end up looking like all those poor "stereotypical" poodles you see with their fur trimmed in loads of stupid-looking shapes . Poodles are apparently one of the more intelligent breds of dog (not sure where they rank in terms of "clerverness compared to other breeds" but I think it's about third or fifth or something), so hopefully you can convince this one that you would prefer he didn't dig up your garden . I can't remember what sort of dogs they are, mentally - I mean, what they were originally bred for.

[Jan]

Lol, just because I like to read and work in a bookshop doesn't mean I know the ins and outs of every book every written . I'm not much up on my classics, I'm afraid - I know the titles and authors of quite a few, but that doesn't mean I know anything of their characters of plots . That said, the name "Montmorency" might sound vaguly familiar, I'm not sure. I keep thinking of Sherlock Holmes but I know I'mjust thinking of the bad guy, Moriarty. At least, I think he's the bad guy. Like I said, I've not really read any classics .

Yep, Moriarty was the bad guy. And about the quiz - lol - another hint and now you must guess it: Montmorency was the dog that belonged to

Spoiler

one of the three

travellers. This novel is really classic, and one of my most favoutite books. It really makes me ROFL on so many places. I like it so much. It's so funny. I have so many quotations for so many occassions from it. It's so old (about 150 years), but still suprisingly kind of modern and fresh. You must read it if you haven't yet.

I hope he doesn't end up looking like all those poor "stereotypical" poodles you see with their fur trimmed in loads of stupid-looking shapes

LOL. Nope. Definitely not. He'll be kept in his "natural" state and then shaven like a sheep from time to time. I hate these fancy-looking poodles, bleh.

Poodles are apparently one of the more intelligent breds of dog (not sure where they rank in terms of "clerverness compared to other breeds" but I think it's about third or fifth or something), so hopefully you can convince this one that you would prefer he didn't dig up your garden . I can't remember what sort of dogs they are, mentally - I mean, what they were originally bred for.

Poodles are very intelligent, very fast both in thinking and in running. They are surprisingly brave - definitely more brave and daring than they look. Originally, and it must surprise everyone, they were bred for hunting - or, to be precise, for picking shot animals (birds) from the water. They were excellent swimmers, and that's why they have the dense hair and covered ears. Only later they became the "room-bed-lady-stupid-looking-stupidly-shaven" things. But there's still something of their old hunting nature in them. They enjoy swimming, they are brave, and they love exploring new things and places. If you train your poodle in these abilities, he'll become a good friend and companion, not this stupid bed-dog. But, of course, a fox-terrier is another story.

[Sophia]

I thought about it a bit, had no clue, googled it, and realized that I would have never been able to figure out because I'd never even heard of the book that it was from...

But then again, us Americans are ignorant and not up on that sort of thing anyway. The whole world knows that, especially Europe.

[beowuuf]

Ah, I know of the book but have never read the book. Perhaps I should!

[ian_scho]

No ******* way. You know this book.... THIS book. It was this book when I was a child I picked up from my father and I said to myself "I'm going to read an adult's book. The first one in my life." I distinctly remember looking at the old book with the browning paper and thinking it's aged. Years later here we are and I can't remember a thing about it...
Nice one Jan!

[Ameena]

Okay, I just gave in and Googled it - I've heard of the book and the author 'cause we sell it at work. That's it, lol.

[Jan]

Monty seems to enjoy snow a lot - perhaps because he was born in winter and snow was everywhere. Now, it's melting, but there are still many piles of old snow here, some of them even higher than me, so he climbs on them (unbelievably fast), and then he rolls or slides down, landing on his nose. Over and over again.

PS You can print out your copy of "THREE MEN IN A BOAT (TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG)" from here:

http://www.forgottenfutures.com/game/boat/boat.htm

I can really recommend reading it. It's so immensely funny that I sometimes was not able to continue reading as I was ROFL.

My most favourite has always been Chapter III., the part in which "the elderly, family-man puts up a picture" - it's about the famous uncle Podger. It reminds me myself... I mean other people so much!

[oh_brother]

Yes, a great book. Not the kind of book I would have chosen on my own - humour tends to change over time, and I am sure not many books that would have been funny to a Victorian audience are still funny today.

But a couple of years ago a friend gave it to me and said I had to read it. And I really laughed out loud in places! Highly recommended.

[Jan]

So our neighbours tried to poison our new doggie. They threw a poisoned meat over the fence, and he, because he's just a naive puppy, he ate a bit. It damaged his stomach seriously, he almost died, he spent a day in the hospital. Now he's back at home, but still weak, and his stomach might be damaged for the rest of his life.

They did it because they hate us, our whole family. The house in which they live was built by my grand-grand-father during WWII for my grandmother (as his daughter), but after the communist coup in 1948 the communists "nationalised" this house (and the rest of my family's property including the farm and fields) and gave it to this prominent communist (member of the district politbyro, a brutal illiterate guy) who's been living there until now. After 1990 (the Velvet Revolution) we tried to get our property back, we got the fields back but not this house, although we put it to the court; but this guy was a friend with most of the judges from the times prior to 1990, so we just spent a lot of money with no success. We finally gave it up, and now we have to watch him living in our house over the fence. However, since this case he started really hating us, he tried to poison several of our dogs and damaged our greenhouse by throwing stones (how stupid). He's about 75 years old, so I hope he won't do much more damage - I hope that trying to poison our Monty was his last vicious thing.

I hope Monty will survive that and will be OK with no permanent damage.

[Gambit37]

WTF!? I'm sorry to hear about your new doggie and your clearly insane neighbour. Tomi is having problems with his too -- what is it with neighbours in Europe!?

[Ameena]

Wow, shit what a total umm...well, yes, a whole list of expletives. I hope poor Monty is okay...and I wonder what that knobhead would have done if it had been a new kid and not a new dog. Wanker .

[beowuuf]

What the hell? Can't the police do anything about that??? Even worse it is an old man, he'll get automatic sympathy even thought he sounds evil.

[Jan]

He doesn't have a sympathy because of being old, but because of being one of the heads of the communist party before 1990 - so he knows all the police chiefs and senior judges in the district or even in the whole region. So when we first came to the district court at the beginning of 1990s he was chatting with the judge and waving at him. Our case was send to the regional court, but he knew the judge too, so it was send back to the district; after a few years we lost about 200.000 CZK (you could buy a very good car for that in those days) and so we finally gave it up in 1995 or so. It's the same with police, so there is no chance in reporting it to them.

The only hope is that these "old structures" from the times before 1990 all die one day (sorry to say that) so we can start "from the scratch", but it will take some time.

Anyway, Monty looks better now, we're just worried he'll have some permanent damage to his stomach.

Thanks everyone for your interest!