Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Pets, manga, and comics

Before Audrey came along (and still now, of course!), my wife and I have been entertained by our two Maltese dogs, Heidi and Alfie. Although at first opposed to the idea of getting pets (because I thought it would be a hassle and chain us down), once we got them, life hasn't been the same and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Having never owned such pets before, I have to admit that I was really surprised to see how much personality and hilarious individual quirks dogs can have.


Heidi


Heidi is a dog with a very broad spectrum of emotions. On the one hand, she can be super shy and demure. In fact, because she hid so much from strangers and loud sounds when she was a puppy, she got the name "Hide-y." On the other hand, when she's happy, she gets so spirited that she'll run around at a million-miles-per-hour with her tongue sticking out and will bark at and taunt a 60 pound dog (our dogs are a whopping 6 pounds each). She'll then look at you with her pretty lady eyes and sit patiently with good manners when she wants food, but, when sleeping, you'll find her sprawled out on her back.


Alfie


Alfie has always been laid back and happy. When he's alone, you can peer in from another room to find him playing with toys, kicking balls around, rolling on his back, and just having a great time. One of his favorite pastimes is to taunt and annoy his big sister, Heidi. They'll eventually get into a wrestling match, and Heidi will overpower him to the point where he'll have to run away and hide under our bed. But within a few moments, he'll relentlessly come back for seconds...and more...and more...


Characteristic poses when waiting for mommy or daddy


I now understand completely why a cartoonist would want to create characters out of their pets. Charles Schulz owned a pointer, which influenced the creation of his character, Snoopy. And Dr. Seuss had many pets, which is probably why he liked drawing cats, and drew the furry feet of his creatures like the way our Alfie's feet get when he's in dire need of a haircut.

Someday, I'll make some comics or manga about my dogs too.

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