The Pet Odyssey

I am an animal lover. I am never without a dog. My customers are always happy when I tell them that they do not need to put their dog out in the back yard while I am there. Their dogs always spend some time snuffling me. They always recognize that I am a dog person and enjoy hanging around with me while I work on their human’s computers. Many are surprised at how their dogs take to me.

The names they choose for their dogs and cats often strike me as humorous. I was working on one customer’s computer. They had a large desk with a 19” LCD screen. His cat, Harold, was “helping” me fix the computer. Harold sat between me and the monitor and spent much of his time swatting at the mouse cursor on the screen.

One other customer had a very hyperactive Poodle mix. We were working on his computer when she came running through and the mouse and keyboard disappeared from their place as the dog’s leg caught their cords. The owner was yelling profanities at the poor dog and chased her off. She came back and managed to get tangled in the phone cord connected to the DSL modem. The modem went flying off the desk and the phone cord was violently ripped out of the wall. The best I could tell, this dog’s name was “Son of a Bitch”. Funny I thought, supposing that she was more of a “daughter” than a “son”.

When I entered another customer’s home, I noticed they had one of those funny, smashed-in-nose Pugs. When he snuffled me, he sounded like a little pig snorting and grunting which just cracked me up. I asked her what his name was… she said “Homer”. I don’t care where you are from; a Pug that snorts named Homer is just darned funny!