Sidelines: by Senior Editor Marsha McKenna
They often say dogs and their masters assume similar characteristics, such as appearance and behavior.
After this holiday's shopping season, I'm beginning to believe it could be true for my daughter and her new pet.
Karen has been talking about getting a dog ever since she bought her house.
So, a few months ago, she brings home an 18-month-old blue-eyed Siberian Husky appropriately named Tundra (although other names have come to mind since, as you will understand later in the column).
He's a beautiful animal, I'll give him that. The description of "a calm dog" she tried to convince us of is another story.
He fits the description that Wikipedia shares: He loves to howl and sing rather than bark. When he's being corrected, he becomes reminiscent of teenagers I have known: rolling eyes, tossed head and he mouths back.
It's the next description that I'm wondering if I can work to my advantage: They are extremely intelligent and after learning a new skill will often decide when to show off this skill when asked to perform it.
Tundra has expressed an interest in shopping, something he can definitely share with my daughter -- but not with me.
The Saturday after Thanksgiving, I was blissfully sleeping in when my cell phone jarred me awake with another daughter's ring tone.
"He's out again and I can't find him."
Kelly was taking care of her "nephew" while Karen was away for the weekend.
"Fine, let me get dressed and I'll come over to help look for him," I so "cheerfully" reply.
She's been driving around the neighborhood, a mile or so from Chapel Hill Mall, for about 45 minutes in search of the elusive canine.
My oldest daughter Jen and I join in the search to no avail. I contacted Karen to let her know her once-again wayward "son" is tying up my day off (this is not the first time a posse has been sent out on his behalf).
She soon calls back.
"He's in the mall."
"I'm not in the mood for jokes," I respond.
"I'm not joking, Mom," she says, while laughing. (She can laugh -- she's not driving around in the cold with her car window down). "He really is in the mall."
Great. Just where I want to go the day after Black Friday. While I have nothing against the retail establishment, I avoid those areas because of the crowds.
Turns out he got in the back door of a mall store, where he was corralled. But as the store employee was calling Karen, Tundra decided to check out the specials at a major department store nearby and was off.
Soon his shopping expedition was over, with no damage or injury (hopefully, he didn't attempt to sign up for a credit card during his foray).
Why should I not be surprised that's where he was? His owner can be found there very frequently year-round.
This is one time I'd really like to get into the mind of an animal -- what was he thinking? Was it some perfume he was after? A new sweater? Maybe his wolf ancestry was leading him toward a rabbit fur coat?
The mystery may have been solved with his next great escape less than two weeks later. He was found in the warehouse area of a shipping company about a half mile from her house.
Karen's friend at work theorized that first Tundra had to shop for a present for his girlfriend (whom we have never met) and now was trying to ship it to her.
Maybe I can turn this to my benefit -- give him some coupons and let him do my grocery shopping. Bet he would be good at picking out some good cuts of meat.
Or better yet -- the wish list of toys of the human grandsons for next year's Christmas. Something tells me he would digress from the list and everyone's holiday stockings would be full of tennis balls. After all, that's a toy, he would reason.
Maybe he and my daughter can start up their own business of being personal shoppers -- I know I'll sign up to be their first client.
E-mail: mmckenna@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3118