SICK AS A DOG

Junior Master has a dastardly cold. When Main Mistress came home tonight, she promptly drew a hot bath, filled it with peppermint oil and sat bath-side, reading to Junior Master while he groaned in the water.

"Mom," I heard him say. "Where does the expression 'sick as a dog' come from?"

My puppy ears pricked up immediately from the hiding place I had secreted myself into after learning that I would not be enjoying the tasty treat of Main Mistress's sweaty, post-workout feet. Though she had gone on a late night walk for a couple of miles, her final destination was the nail salon where she had a pedicure.

When I saw those ebony-dark toenails and buffed, lotioned and perfumed soles headed my way, I quickly beat it to the bottom of Main Master's side of closet, where I drowned my sorrows in his dirty shirts.

Anyway, the question of Junior Master drew me from my lair. To my surprise, Main Mistress burst into laughter and repeated the question to Main Master, who was trying to escape to his office. Determined to reward her child's curiosity, she mused aloud that perhaps the expression came from a time when dogs were not the pampered princes and princesses they are today, but rather, were treated like homeless vagrants.

Well, later at night, after Junior Master went to sleep and while Main Mistress was busy blogging on her site (check out http://bungalow-babe.blogspot.com/) I snuck to Main Master's laptop and did a little sleuthing. It paid off, as you will see from the following information, gleaned from www.worldwidewords.com:

Q] From Ehud Maimon in Jerusalem: “I would appreciate it if you could help me find the origin of the expression sick as a dog.”

[A] There are several expressions of the form sick as a ..., that date from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Sick as a dog is actually the oldest of them, recorded from 1705; it is probably no more than an attempt to give force to a strongly worded statement of physical unhappiness. It was attached to a dog, I would guess, because dogs often seem to have been linked to things considered unpleasant or undesirable; down the years they have had an incredibly bad press, linguistically speaking (think of dog tired, dog in the manger, dog’s breakfast, go to the dogs, dog Latin — big dictionaries have long entries about all the ways that dog has been used in a negative sense).

At various times cats, rats and horses have been also dragged in to the expression, though an odd thing is that horses can’t vomit; one nineteenth-century writer did suggest that this version was used “when a person is exceedingly sick without vomiting”. The strangest member of the set was used by Jonathan Swift in 1731: “Poor Miss, she’s sick as a Cushion, she wants nothing but stuffing” (stop laughing at the back).

The modern sick as a parrot recorded from the 1970s — at one time much overused by British sportsmen as the opposite of over the moon — refers to a state of deep mental depression rather than physical illness; this perhaps comes from instances of parrots contracting psittacosis and passing it to their human owners.

Anyway, poor little Junior Master is indeed sick, but I prefer a different simile. Let's just say that he's as sick as can be.

Luv and howls,

Alfie the Pomeranian

PS: What the HECK is psittacosis?????????????????????????????????

A POMERANIAN PASSOVER

Alright, all you (Jewish) humans out there. If you think that it is actually funny to toss little pieces of matzah to your pet pooch, allow me to enlighten you.

Whatever matzah does to human stomachs is an absolute stroll through Central Park compared to the havoc it wreaks on our tender little tummies.

Unless, of course, you are trying to reverse a case of doggy diarrhea, please, please, please keep the edible cardboard on the table and toss us the leftover shankbone from the Seder Plate or some tasty pieces of Kosher for Passover cheese instead.

Thank you.

So, here I am, up at the crack of dawn on the last day of chol hamoed, the middle days of Passover when Jewish humans get to congregate en masse in places like the Bronx Zoo, the Central Park Zoo, The American Museum of Natural History, the circus (if it is in town) or movie theatres. If you haven't seen Hasidic people in a while, you should definitely also check out Astroland or the New York Aquarium as well.

I heard some rumblings from Main Master and Mistress that I am being shipped out to BOMM (Brother of Main Master) and WOBOMM (Wife of Brother of Main Master) for the last days of the holiday because my Human Family is going to Great Neck, home of mah gurl Natalie (check the post I Love Natalie!), a town that makes Main Mistress feel like a sociologist every time she visits.

This is an interesting development because WOBOMM has a Pomette that she left in Israel. I understand that the Pom's name is Mishmish (it means Apricot in Hebrew) and she is a tasty little number indeed. Maybe if I make a good impression, WOBOMM will give me Mishmish's phone number!

And speaking of other dogs....I understand that BOJM (Boyfriend of Junior Mistress) took umbrage that the suggestion that his dog, Coco (whose name I mispelled in a previous post as Cocoa...which of course makes more sense since: a: the dog is male and every Coco I ever heard of is female, and, b: the dog is brown, just like Cocoa) might be gay.

Well, Mr. BOJM, just to clarify matters, I do not consider it an insult to be gay. I, myself, had some questions about my sexual orientation when I was a young Pom and do not judge my fellow dogs by such superficial criteria. In fact, I support the right of ALL dogs to go to Rabbinical School and am on the record as saying so.

Check with my Main Mistress, who is my publicist.

Hey, BOJM! If ya don't want people to think that Coco is a girly-dog, give him a name like Spike, or Stud or Butch, f'crisakes!

And speaking of crisakes...Happy Easter to all my fellow canines living with Christian Human Families!

Yours in constipation,

Alfie the Pomeranian

A VISIT FROM THE DEVIL, AKA COCOA THE DOG

Dear Junior Mistress,

I must have a bark with you about today's horrific visit from that doody-colored dog who accompanied your boyfriend to Our House.

That dog was the devil. He pooped on the floor. He peed on the floor. He tried to hump me. He spent an inordinate amount of time sniffing my butt. He tried to kill me.

I do not understand what this means. Don't you love me anymore? Yes, it was a joyous reunion at Kennedy Airport yesterday when I jumped about ten feet to lick your face in greeting. Yes, I snuggled in your lap during the traffic-clogged trip back to the city.

Yes, you let me lick your feet when we were home and then I snuggled with you and Reeb on the couch that is coming apart at the seams. I think I even slept with you for a portion of the night.

But a Pom's home is his castle and I cannot have intruders such as Cocoa inside my royal abode.

I hope you understand.


Love and wags,


Alfie the Pomeranian

PS: I think that Cocoa might be gay.
PPS: I hope you like the picture I found of the Famous Emma Goldman
PPPS: Even though she's more famous than you, you are WAY prettier
PPPPS: I still love you!!! Even if you have broken my puppy heart.

ME AND MAH GURL

Tomorrow afternoon, at approximately 4:10 pm, mah main gurl, Junior Mistress, is coming home from Israel. For two whole weeks!!! Over the matzah holiday!!!!!

And I get to go to the airport with Main Mistress and Junior Master!!!!

Yay!!!! Yipppeee!!!!! Woo-hoooo!!!!

I am so excited I almost just peed on the floor in the room where Main Mistress is working. Frankly, she's so focused that I doubt she would notice. So, maybe I will pee...hmmmm.

Nah, I decided not to. Main Mistress is PMS-ing and this would not be a good thing.

When Junior Mistress returns home, I am going to ask her if I can sleep in her bed. This is what I plan to do if she says yes:

Lick her toes

Lick her toes

Lick her toes.

In short, lick her toes.

What? Don't make that face!!! They are really tasty!!!

Gotta go now. Main Mistress wants to go for a treadmill trot. Ha! Get a life, lady!!! It's gorgeous outside. Why not hit the campus of Columbia University, perhaps run up the steps of Low Library?

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Because you look fat in your running shorts 'coz you have PMS. Right.

Next post will chronicle the return of Junior Mistress.

I hope she doesn't have PMS as well. I might not survive.

Love and poops,

Alfie the Pomeranian

I LOVE NATALIE!!

How fabulous is it to be a Pomeranian?

I'll tell you.

Very fabulous.

So fabulous that you get stopped all the time on the street by strangers because you are so cute. Most of these strangers are girls. They stop and melt when they see me. They coo, they squeal, they bend down to get on my level. In response, I jump on them and go crazy licking their hands, faces, basically anything I can get my tongue on!

They love it. I love it.

It's good to be a Pomeranian, especially one with luxurious blond hair, a little foxy nose and a wildly curling tail. It doesn't hurt that I bounce down the street on my teeny little feet and I have a pleasant bark. Not too yippy like some dogs I know but who shall remain nameless.

Yeah...I'm a babe magnet. Senior Master once joked about borrowing me and going to a bar to increase his chances with the women. That is a surefire road to success! Do it, Senior Master!!! (I especially like The Stone Rose, the bar at the new Time Warner Center. The waitresses are SMOKIN' there.)

Well, of all the girls out there who have fallen in love with me as we pass on the street, none can compare with a very special girl who is a family member. Her name is Natalie. She has long dark hair and ENORMOUS dark eyes. She is adorable!!! And we have a special little love-thing going on.

Me and Mrs. Natalie. We've got a thing....going on!

Here's what is so great about this. She used to be afraid of all dogs and to that I say, good thinking, Natalie! Some dogs ARE scary!!! Be afraid. Be very afraid.

And she used to be afraid of me, despite my extreme cuteness. This, of course, hurt my feelings a bit even as I understood that it wasn't me, per se, she was afraid of. It was Dogness. The concept of canines. Not cute little me.

Meanwhile, I cannot explain why, but one day Natz decided that I'm okay and the next thing ya know, we're madly in love!!! And she even started asking Main Mistress and Junior Master to bring me over for special playdates!!! Yippppeeeeeee!!!

So, now I've got a little thang going on with Natalie. She even has a special doggie dish for me and some doggie treats like the astronauts eat. One of fave things to do is to go to her house and hang out with her and her brothers and sisters. There are about five million of them in that house, I think.

So here's a shout-out to mah gurl Natalie: I LOVE YOU!!! You rock my world!!!

Barks and licks,

Alfie the Pomeranian

Welcome to the Fabulous Life of Alfie the Pomeranian

Wow! I've got my own blog!!! Or, should there be some new word invented for a dog's blog, perhaps a doglog??

In any case, I've got one. Kewwwwwwwwwwwl! I hope that my Main Mistress, whom I've hired to type this entry (the keyboard is in English and I can only type in Pomeranian) sends the URL to Junior Mistress who is currently in Israel.

Junior Mistress is 18. And a half. She's in her year between high school and college. I love Junior Mistress! And I miss her to pieces!!! She's the reason I came to live with My Human Family in Manhattan. She's been gone for sooooo long that I want to howl every time I think of it. I think I saw her last time during that holiday with the turkey. Junior Mistress slipped me a HUGE piece of turkey skin under the table. Delish!!!

So, here I am, lying at the feet of my Main Mistress sending her telepathic messages. They read, "Send the URL to Junior Mistress. Stop. Better yet, call Junior Mistress in the morning and tell her about the new blog. Stop."

Junior Mistress will love this!!! And when she returns home for that matzah holiday (yay!! I LOVE matzah!!!) I will spend about an hour licking her feet. I hope they are nice and dirty from Ein Gedi. Yum!!!!

This blog is my own doggy diary. I'll bet you're thinking, "Big deal. Why would I be interested in reading the blog of a Pomeranian?"

And if you are thinking something along those lines, you obviously do not know the first thing about the fabulous lives Pomeranians lead. But I intend to educate you.

In this post, I just wanted to introduce my personal peeps:

Main Mistress: She has short dark hair and is addicted to coffee. Her life is a wreck. She works all the time. She loves reading and writes mysterious things in the middle of the night. She has a really loud voice. I think she is a grown-up because she has three kids, two of whom are grown-up. But I'm not sure because she doesn't really act like a grown-up. She likes to dance a lot. She likes to exercise a lot. She loves summer. She hates cleaning. She likes to throw parties. She loves to travel. She lets me sleep with her when the Main Master is away. She takes me for walks only when the Main Master is away but I live with her in our country bungalow in the summer and then she takes care of me all the time.

Main Master: He is tall with glasses. He looks like a professor. He is a professor. He teaches at that huge place across the street from Our House. He brought me home from my Pom Family to my Human Family. He takes the best care of me. He takes me out whenever I need to, in fact, I need to pee the minute I see him. It's Pavlovian. He likes reading newspapers and listens to music on a cable tv channel that has writing and information about the composers. He doesn't let me sleep on the bed. He once chased me with a pillow because I bit him when he took my chocolate away. I love the way his shoes and dirty clothes smell. I usually hang out in his closet when I can't get away with sleeping on his pillow. I think he might be my real father. Or maybe God.

Senior Master: He goes to the huge place across the street. He's very smart...I can tell. He has bottles of Absinthe in his room from strange European countries. His room has about five million books. He is sort of a grown-up but I'm not sure. His friends like me a lot. I'm not sure he likes me. Still, I like to lick him and jump up on him. I cannot help loving him. He once played catch with me. I did NOT like that! He also once put a dress on me and made me star in a movie he made that is on YouTube. All I have to say about that movie is WTF??!!!

Junior Mistress: Well, I told you a bit about her. She is beautiful. She has a GREAT singing voice. And she's an amazing actress! (Can I still say actress these days? Dogs aren't big on PC-speak.) I know she'll be famous one day!!!!I like to steal her underwear from the hamper but this makes her mad. She loves me. Her friends all love me, esp the friend named Reeb. Reeb is like a second Junior Mistress to me. I love anyone connected to Junior Mistress. I love her so much I almost wish I was human so I could marry her. But she has a boyfriend. For a human, he looks okay, mostly because he has a lot of hair.

Junior Master: He is kind of like my brother. I really love him, too! I'm planning on sleeping in his bed tonight. That is a very cozy place to sleep, take it from me. He sometimes even hugs me in his sleep. He plays the cello. He also has an amazing singing voice. I think he should be a rock star! Or a singing cellist. I like the sound of his singing and his cello. Sometimes, though, he makes other sounds that I hate!!!! Dog ears are sensitive!!! He has the sweatiest feet in the family, ergo, the tastiest for me!!! He also doesn't mind if I steal his undies from the hamper. Now those are tasty underpants! Junior Master watches too much TV, in my opinion. But he tosses me a lot of food because I bark my brain off when I see him having snack. When he wakes up in the morning, I like to growl at him just for the heck of it. He's too young to drink coffee but he sure could use it to help wake up.

Then, there are other creatures who live in Our House but they are beneath my dignity to mention. Suffice it to say that they live in a cage and are rodents.

Anyway, my tail is beginning to droop. There is so much more to say but I'll sign off now for tonight.

Catch you later!!!

Alfie the Pomeranian