A ‘tail’ of two granddogs, Polo and Tessa

My two Shih-Tzu granddogs, Polo, age 10, and Tessa, age seven, are truly joys in my old age. I granddog-sit them regularly, sometimes two at a time. I can go to sleep knowing that the least little noise will set up a cacophony of barking. Then I have to get up an investigate.

I always marvel at the keenness of their senses. They seem to hear anything outside — cars, people and of course other animals and not being able to see them.

Walking Polo early in the morning is a learning experience in itself. He makes a pit stop at each of the telephone poles on our street. A dribble here and a dribble there. He repeats the leg lifting at each one on the way back, even though he is running on empty. It looked like he got a leg cramp at one stop. This leg lifting exercise is about the only exercise he gets all day.

Big sniffers

Dogs are creatures of habit and big sniffers. Polo has the characteristics of a mule, stubborn and slow to get started. You have to sometimes drag him. Tessa is the opposite, more like a race horse and will drag you. Her tank is full of high octane energy. She doesn’t do any leg lifting, but does sniff bases of telephone poles like Polo.

The two dramatically opposite personalities get along fine. Polo is neutered and Tessa spayed. I would have liked one of their offspring with the features of both. I have to settle with granddog-sitting only two, instead of three.

Another interesting characteristic is their tail, which speaks volumes. You can tell the difference between friend or foe by it. A wagging tail means friend, while a rigid one signifies foe. Dogs are men’s, women’s, and children’s best friends. They also bring a lot of joy to senior citizens not only in our own homes, but to those in nursing and assisted living homes as well.

X Michael J. Lacivita is a Youngstown retiree and an inductee into the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame and Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.