Ode to Genie the Wonderdog.

One of my favorite books is called A Dog Year by Jon Katz. It was also made into a movie on HBO but personally I think the book is much better. I read the book at the recommendation of my vet in West Los Angeles over ten years ago. I just loved this book because it was so similar to the story of my dog Genie and me. It was a story of love at first sight.

When she picked me out she was a 10 week old puppy; half Yellow Lab Half Australian Shepherd. It was at my niece's soccer game in Escondido. A lady was selling puppies for ten dollars. I had just given my younger niece a dollar so I only had nine. That is how I got the nine dollar dog. She was so sweet while outsmarting me and everyone else. I was living in an apartment in Brentwood, California at the time. Urban West Los Angeles. Not the best for a dog that thrived on herding and hunting. That first year was a battle of wills. She could open doors, boxes, refrigerators, trash cans, sliding doors and an armoir door. I still don't understand that one.

We walked and walked. She chased anything on wheels and runners with poor form. She was always on leash but still managed to give a little chase even if I was paying attention at the time. She was very particular. She hid her toys and bones all over my apartment and then spent time finding them or would pull them out as if to show me she had a stash. I had hardwood floors. I would wake up at 3 am to the sound of her throwing a tennis ball up in the air; it would bounce down the hall three or four times - then run to get it. Because she needed so much exercise we discovered a park that had 4 baseball fields. She ran and ran. She ran with bicyclists although they were on the other side of the fences which worked out well for everyone. She loved to dance in the water shot off by the sprinklers for the baseball fields.

She was graceful and athletic although not everyone saw that in her. They saw a crazy dog. After I couldn't recall her one day when she chased a runner my vet recommended the Trainer to the Stars and this book - A Dog Year. The Trainer was great. Thanks to him we all survived. He taught me how to walk her, to anticipate her, he showed me her instincts and gave me advice on how to corral those. He taught me that she had to work for literally everything. She was much happier after this as was I. I got in much better physical shape. I saw nature in Brentwood and Santa Monica that I am sure most people have never noticed. We would go to a dog park in Santa Monica at 5:30 am every day. It was by a rec center that opened at 6 for free coffee and showers for the homeless people. Genie and I got to know many of them. My friends were taken aback when we would go to the local grocery store and the guy panhandling out front would greet me and ask where Genie was.

I met Rosie Grier because of her. He called her Birddog Genie; he would honk at us from his maroon Cadillac Escalade if he saw us walking on San Vicente or Barrington. After awhile I met someone - the Significant Other. We got engaged, married and moved to the suburbs. We had a big backyard (by L.A. standards) with fruit trees, birds and squirrels. The S.O. came with two cats. We all settled in together.

The Trainer to the Stars had recommended that down the road I consider getting another dog as Genie needed a pack. The time was right; we went to shelters on weekends and took her with us to pick this new addition. In Glendale we found The Brown Dog. He was a 90 lb. junkyard dog; big body pillow. He was just one year old. The S.O. was traveling so I took him home. The dogs did well that first day although Genie kept disappearing to the back yard and coming in with dirt on her. She was hiding all of her toys and bones in the backyard by burying them. I had to leave for a few hours so I caged The Brown Dog. He seemed fine. I got home and both dogs greeted me at the door. This went on for a couple of days until I gave up. I still can't figure out how she unlocked a cage that had two sliding/reversing mechanisms.

She barked frantically at anyone that came within 4 feet of our front door. But if they came through it they were fine. She scared people who didn't know her; those that did - loved her. After another year we moved to Utah. The first year we were here our backyard wasn't fenced so we walked and hiked with the dogs. Always on leash. Genie would still stash her things through out the house and pull them out when she needed them. Part of her nightly routine was to hide her things so The Brown Dog couldn't get them. If someone came to the house that she decided she liked she would go find one of her stashed items and bring it to them as a gift.

Her herding and hunting instincts remained so strong. She also was so protective of our pack. One morning at about 5 we woke up to her gutteral low growling. The S.O. got up to look outside; she wedged herself between him and the window and used her head to herd him away from the window. The cats got curious; she herded them and The Brown Dog away too. I went into another room and saw that we had a moose in our backyard. She didn't let anyone near the rear of the house until he left; about six weeks later. She did the same one day when we had a snake. The S.O. was out of town on business, she blocked our rear step to the backyard and wouldn't move. Then I realized that the stick on the rocks was moving, fast and away from our house.

So the housecleaners would come we took the dogs to dog day care once a week. They were always happy and exhausted when I picked them up. One day I got there and Genie was in the office area with R the owner. R was cracking up. She would leave Genie in the far back yard most of the day to hunt and sunbathe; then she'd cycle other dogs in and out with Genie for exercise. One day she left Genie out back with a door sized gate to the building closed; then the dogs were in gated areas off of a gated central area. R was doing some paperwork and realized it was too quiet. Genie had let 8 other dogs out to the backyard; except The Brown Dog who was whining away. They changed their gating since then by moving the closing mechanisms from 4-4 1/2 feet to 6 feet high and use leashes to further secure the gates.

She did bite someone once. The S.O. was walking both dogs (on leash as always) when a neighbor's offleash dog got entangled with ours. We didn't know this neighbor. He reached into the dogs and started kicking and punching our dogs to get his out of the middle. Both of our dogs had defensive bruising along their bodies. The Brown Dog got kicked in the head and ended up with a cut eye and bruised cheek/jaw in addition to cracked ribs. Genie was limping; it turned out she was kicked so hard repeatedly in the leg that her knee was completed torn out. She ended up having surgery and was able to recuperate over time. The neighbor was bitten and we called the sheriff because some punches got thrown. The sheriff attributed the bite to Genie's being protective of The S.O. and The Brown Dog. It was awful. The S.O. still doesn't know why he didn't just drop our dogs leashes so they could run free instead of being vulnerable the way they were. By the way, his dog was fine.

Well, the sad news is that shortly after she recovered from her surgery she started having problems with her neck. We found out that she had a tumor in her neck that was penetrating the spine. The vet gave her a couple of days; we ended up with three good weeks. She was puppylike and loving; waking me up with a wet nose every morning. She had one bad day and that was the day we had to put her to sleep. We have a great vet - Dr. L. who put a blanket outside on the grass overlooking the mountain tops. She laid down, put her head in my lap; licked my hand and was gone. This dog was so special to me; she was sensitive to my moods, could make me laugh and cry, she really enjoyed life. She smiled.

Since her passing The Brown Dog grieved as much as we did if not more. The two dogs were very attached; him more than her. Every now and then he'll sniff something under a couch or bed or hidden in the retaining wall in the backyard and pull out one of her toys or bones. It's like she left them there for him.

The Brown Dog is a great dog and very different from her. He is snoozing at my side as I write this as is The Black Dog (who is a whole other blog). Everyone who has read A Dog Year and knew Genie says that the dog Devon/Orson was her. She was definitely a once in a lifetime dog and as I look at our other once in a lifetime dogs I am so happy to have had the pleasure of her company. Genie would've been eleven this week (I can never figure out the dog years) and is probably enjoying chasing bicyclists, herding cats and playing fetch among the stars.