4.25.2003 ||>
I actally wasn't going to come to Tashkent this week, since I did last week and I wanted to spend some time getting some work done, but I suppose that can never be. Sigh. I go to Tashkent too often, but I guess it's good because I get to blog and stuff....
Not much to write this time around, just here to get some money issues out of the way anyway. I'm going to try to get all the emails I couldn't do out of the way today if I have time, but I have to get money from my camp, and since the money is from the US government, there's yet more forms to fill out in triplicate. But 50 students will hopefully thank me this summer.
One more story. Read down.
Okay so I don't know what's up with people and their damn dogs. My host family - who, before I begin my tirade I will add that I adore - has decided to get a new dog. Not a dog... a puppy. In their infinite wisdom, they bred their dog, who I might add is a pit bull, to another pit bull with the stipulation that they would get one puppy from the litter. So now, in our already small apartment we have one full grown pit bull and one pit bull puppy. Plus, of course, me, my two host sisters, and my two host parents. Now, before you worry, the adult pit bull is absolutely the sweetest dog. Maybe our first two weeks were turbulent; he was a little surprised at my sudden arrival and left me a couple very nasty "presents" before he got used to me. But now he likes me and we get along. Now that he knows I'm boss.
They got the puppy about 4 weeks ago, at one week old. It looked like a little rat. It still does to some extent, so I dubbed it "little rat" in Russian, which is "kriska." Actually, I think it's a cute sounding name, although my host father hates it. But I hate having the puppy, so I feel all's fair. Anyway, that's not where my tirade begins. Now that you know the little history here I go:
I hate it when people act stupid around little puppies. "Oh, look how cute! He's biting with his little puppy teeth!" Yes, because it's cute now. Unfortunately, half my family (pop and little, little sis) don't seem to have the foresight that says it's cute now that he weighs 5 pounds, but it won't be cute when he's 100 pounds of lean, muscled pit bull with jaws that can tear your arm off. So they let him play bite them - hard. And then they, get this, get mad when I correct him by closing his mouth when he bites me. It's one thing to get nipped by a Yorkshire terrier. It's another when it's a dog that has been genetically nurtured to fight and kill.
And the other thing: "Oops, he peed again!" Do people not know how to paper train? I realize that at 5 weeks, he is a little early for paper training, but I say it's better too early than too late. It's very simple: you put the paper down, and he pees on it instead of your carpet or (in my family's case) the nice Central Asian rugs (which people in America pay really good money for). If he pees elsewhere, you rub his nose in it until he gets the hint that he is not to pee there. It's not mean, it's just letting him know for future reference. But that's not what gets me the most. What gets me is that pop and little-little sis keep trying to convince me that the puppy's pee is clean because he's too young to eat meat. So, is my pee clean because I'm a vegetarian? Can I piss on the rug too and have it be all right? Give me a break.
Anyway, as you can tell by now I've never been fond of puppies. But now that I think about it, it's not the puppies I dislike as much as when people do stupid things with the puppies because they think the mistakes will all just disappear without some hard work, when they won't. I'm really afraid for this dog, and for any little kids that get in its way when it gets old enough to do some damage. But again, I'm feeling a bit like Cassandra, the Trojan prophetess who was doomed to have no one believe her until it was too late, so I'll stop before I get too tragic. So just remember the moral of the story: spay or neuter your dogs right off to bat and everything will be all right from then on.
