This Side Up

Five minutes of super dog is enough

John Howell
Posted 1/13/15

You would have seen the ad while watching the Patriots Saturday if you could tear yourself away from the suspense of the game – the one for the Golf VW.

This sporty metallic-blue car whips …

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This Side Up

Five minutes of super dog is enough

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You would have seen the ad while watching the Patriots Saturday if you could tear yourself away from the suspense of the game – the one for the Golf VW.

This sporty metallic-blue car whips around the screen, somehow evoking an image of a living rather than a mechanical object. Then in one micro clip there’s an image of a different car being unplugged, letting the viewer know that in addition to the conventional gasoline and diesel models there’s this electric VW – the e-Golf.

That caught my curiosity, but not enough to tear me away from the game. But the image came to mind Sunday.

Ollie was downstairs in the kitchen and still wearing his cowbell from his morning romp around the yard. The bell is a great feature, seeing that when this spotted coonhound locks into a scent, there’s nothing – not even food – that can dissuade him from affixing his nose to the ground and pursuing the trail. With the bell, we have hope of finding him.

There was this rhythmic clanking indicating a repetitive motion.

“What’s he doing?”

“Eating,” Carol replied.

And then came that image of a fully-charged e-Golf being unplugged. It wasn’t misguided.

In no more than five minutes, the clanking revved up. This brown, black and white spotted torpedo shot up the stairs, wearing a look of sheer delight and anticipation.

“Where’s your pullie?”

He cocked his head. He knew exactly what I meant (astounding how he can understand when he wants to), wheeled and shot back downstairs. From the clanging, I could tell he raced through the dining room and was checking the living room for any signs of the short section of green rope with knots in both ends.

He arrived back upstairs, somewhat winded, but hardly tired. He looked at me expectantly from the threshold to what has become the “computer room.” He didn’t have the pullie.

“OK, I guess we need to find the pullie,” I said, leaving the screen.

He was ready for the hunt, leading me back downstairs in a thundering burst of action.

He was at my side, watching, as I poked through the basket of gloves and mittens near the backdoor. No pullie. It wasn’t to be found in the dining room either. The prize was in the living room.

Ollie was elated. At its mere sight, he started growling in anticipation of the tug-of-war to follow. I grabbed one knot. He locked on to the other, teeth bared. There was a guttural rumble and a few clanks from the cowbell as he arched his back, planted his feet into the rug and yanked. I pulled back and the volume elevated. The rug slid. Ollie shook his head. He was losing his grip.

I let him have the pullie. He tossed it delightedly, and then shoved it back into my hand for more.

This time I got it away from him. I tossed it into the dining room. He shot after it, not stopping until he had raced upstairs and back down just to show me who “really” is in control. Another five minutes of tug-of-war followed. Such happiness is exhilarating.

Finally, I let him have the pullie again. This time he didn’t return from his upstairs foray. The bell was silent. I read the Sunday paper, finished my cold coffee and headed upstairs. Ollie was spread out on our bed, asleep. The pullie was beside him.

I reached down to unclip the collar with the bell. He rolled over and stretched out so I could rub his stomach. It was hard to resist. He groaned his satisfaction.

Soon I went back to the computer. I Googled “VW Golf,” and up popped the image of the blue car I’d seen during the game. Some poking around brought me to the e-Golf. It looked to be the same car but, of course, it wasn’t. It was about twice the cost of the gasoline model, but then, of course, it had this enticing feature of being plugged in, although with today’s gasoline prices that hardly seems to be a consideration.

I looked further and found what I was looking for. A fully charged e-Golf has a range of 83 miles. The image of Ollie came to mind – this creature that can suck up a dish of kibble and be transformed into a super dog.

And thankfully, I would add, the range is equally limited. Five minutes of pullie is sufficient to put you in a good mood for a full day. You’re fully charged.

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