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Vincenzo…

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Vincenzo Fabiano

I didn’t know dogs could have an ethnicity.  Until I met Vinnie.  Vinnie, I am convinced, is Italian.  We used to even call him “il toro piccolo” (the little bull).

Vinnie came to live with us, but we didn’t know it.  Or, at least, I didn’t know it. Maybe other family members knew (the DH for instance).  But, I had no idea.

He arrived on the arm of my OS (oldest son).  And some how bulldozed his way into our hearts.  My OS couldn’t keep him.  We agreed to take him to the animal shelter my MD volunteered at, but due to a twist of fate (they wouldn’t take dogs on Saturdays)…  He stayed for the weekend…   (with me exclaiming to my DH “that ugly little black dog is NOT staying here”)(a statement which I have yet to live down).  By Sunday night, there was NO way I could take him to a shelter (sigh)(how do I get myself in to these things?).

As it turns out…  he was meant to be MY dog.  Who knew?  Well, I think Vinnie knew.  He picked us.  Me.  That’s not to say that it was all bliss.  Oh no…  Vinnie was hell on paws.

Little Vinnie... shortly after this picture was taken he grew too large to stick his head between the rails on the deck and got his head stuck... lesson learned...

At the time, we had a toy poodle named, Max (who weighed 5 pounds soaking wet).  Max was getting old.  For years, Dexter (who is 110 pounds) kowtowed to Max. Max was the Alpha. He had his way with the bigger dog (in more ways than just one, but I won’t get into Max’s preferences, this post is about Vinnie).  Vinnie’s arrival in our home changed the dynamic.  You see, Vinnie didn’t seem to know Max was Alpha.  Or, maybe it was more like, he didn’t care?  The pecking order changed around here…  but, this is not the story I want to tell…

Vinnie enjoying a vacation at the cabin

Vinnie is in all ways an Italian male.  He has a mother that dotes on him (yep, he’s a mama’s boy in a BIG way), a charming and outgoing personality, he is handsome…  and obnoxious (hey, not everything is wonderful about being Italian).  Vinnie DEMANDS attention!  He admires himself in the mirror or any other reflective surface (this is MD’s doing)(when he was a puppy she would hold him up to the mirror and tell him he was a “stud waffle”)(when you grow up being told that… of course you think highly of yourself).  We recently caught him looking at himself in the glass of the fireplace (can you say narcissistic?).

That’s not to say that Vin doesn’t have wonderful traits…  he does.  He is loyal, protective and loving.  Smart, funny with a love of life.  He’s a good dog.

One of my favorite stories from Vinnie’s puppyhood is…  the one about how each night around 7 pm he would completely come unhinged.

You see, I had no idea what was going on in his doggie skull…  but, he would just lose it!

Vin would start off in the living room of our great room area (which includes the living room, kitchen and dining room).  He would work up to full speed… thereby insuring that, by the time he hit the dining room flooring (which was a high gloss vinyl at the time) he could spread his legs out and slide across the floor.  This in itself was not a big deal.  However, when he slid… he would slide under the dining room chairs and slam directly into his water dish.

Yep.

It was like the water dish had a target it on and Vinnie was the missile.  He launched himself at it and… you guessed it…  water everywhere!  Of course, he would immediately jump up on his paws…  get his little legs a’goin’…  run in place for a few seconds (which was hilarious because he wasn’t going anywhere due to the wet floor), then when he would finally gain purchase on the slippery floor….  Off he’d go for another round (we nicknamed him Cwazy Vinnie)!

Vinnie as a puppy at my OS's place before coming to live with us...

As Vin hit the carpet in the living room at a dead out sprint, he would run under one of our wing back chairs, spin in circles like his tail was the devil (and it was after him), shoot out from under the chair, head to the far end of the living room and do it all over again!!!  UGH!

I had to call all five of the kids to the kitchen to try and catch this little terror. And so the game of catching the small black (soaking wet), slippery puppy would begin.  No one was fast enough.  He would always out run us…

Some nights this would go on for a half an hour or more.  Much to my disdain!

Unfortunately, (and again showing you that our dogs are smarter than we are) it took the slow (and simple humans) several weeks to realize we could pick up the water dish (DUH).  Doing this would prevent the lake in the kitchen each night (DUH).  AND, much to our amazement, when we did start doing that…  Vinnie didn’t seem to enjoy the 7 pm craziness as much (DUH).

It wasn’t long before he very nearly stopped doing it altogether.  However, every so often, (to this day) something snaps and he runs around the house like a dog possessed (he does this thing where he tucks his butt underneath him and runs)(I call it “butt tucking”)(he kind of looks like a Volkswagen Beetle when he does it)(weird I know).  But, Vin is SO much bigger now.  He can’t fit under the dining room chairs or the wing backs anymore but that doesn’t seem to faze him at all.

I know it doesn’t sound like a blessing…  Vinnie can be a handful…  but to be honest, I wouldn’t have it any other way!  I understand him in his Italian-ness…  and I guess that is what matters!



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