Darwin Refuted

Yesterday was Katya’s tenth birthday. For those of you who have known Katya since she was a puppy, you know what a momentous occasion this is. The sock-eating, pillow- humping, cell phone-chewing, dog has lived to be ten years old. She hasn’t committed suicide by knife (long story about Mark, a grill, a steak knife and Katya), electrical shock, or car.

Katya’s antecedents aren’t just questionable- they are completely unknown. Because of that we have no idea how long she’s “supposed” to live or what possible health concerns could arise. But for all her personality quirks and odd genetic make-up, she’s the healthiest dog I’ve ever owned. She’s never had a serious medical problem. She didn’t contract Lyme disease when Quigley did. She doesn’t have hip or shoulder issues (though she is a bit stiff on very cold mornings), ear infections, mouth infections, glaucoma or any other serious problem. She’s just… crazy.

She has slowed down, a bit. Her level of crazy is approaching normal rambunctious puppy, now, instead of rabid ferret crossed with velociraptor.

Katya continues to be a veritable Eeyore with the boys. Ian tries to pull himself to a standing position using her ears. She just stands there, her big brown eyes gazing at me mournfully. I can almost hear her asking: “WHY did you have another one of these?” When Ethan tortures her beyond her limits (typically by chasing her with his toy lawn mower) she runs to me and whimpers. “Please let me inside before I have to show you why wild animals eat their young” is what I think she’s saying then.

To celebrate her tenth birthday I gave Katya a hair cut. When, IF, it ever decides to be Spring around here she’ll get a good close shave, but the trim needed to happen now. It’s funny how scrawny her legs look when not encased in 6 feet of tangles and curls.


In a moment of karma, Katya, as a puppy, chewed on the scissors that I used to trim her. The mangled plastic of the handle tore up my thumb and left an open, painful sore. That will teach me, eh?

While I was taking a picture of the hair pile, Katya helped herself to Ian’s Cheerios.