The Closet Extrovert

This is Kerberos, a mixed breed Black Lab / Dalmatian born sometime in December 1997 in Houston, TX. Fellow Internet geeks and students of mythology will recognize the name; the rest of you who may be curious can read my brief explanation.

[nostaligic sap] It seems like only yesterday that he was a puppy small enough to hold with one hand. Actually, it was February 1998. My then-Significant Other suprised me around Valentine’s Day with a “window shopping” visit to the local SPCA. I had been pining for a puppy like a little kid. Amidst a squirming litter of nearly identical siblings, one gave me the eye, and I promptly melted. My SO saw me melt and caved in… chain reaction! We walked out the door with him the same day. [/nostaligic sap]

Now, Kerby is all grown up; a 70 pound child substitute that I love dearly. He is generally well-behaved and only slightly neurotic. Upon request he will (usually) come, sit, stay, lay down, roll over, shake, sit up, put his paws up on your knees if you are sitting down, fetch certain toys by name, and allow you to balance a treat on his nose and try (often successfully) to catch it before it hits the ground when you say “OK”. One of his favorite games is “You Can’t Get This Toy From Me”, in which he pretends that he really wants to give you a toy, but will never let you actually take it from him (unless you are ignoring him and he’s feeling particularly desperate).

He often expresses himself with “growly love”, a phrase I made up to describe a behavior that alarms most people who don’t know him. This involves exposing his teeth and doing the “grrrrrrrrr” thing,

usually while giving mixed signals such as wagging his tail, or, if you close your hand over his snout, licking your hand through his bared teeth while still growling, plus snorting. The latter produces some of the oddest sounds I’ve ever heard come from a dog. [video coming]

His favorite toy is a Toy Buddies latex squeaky dog toy which people sometimes suggest looks like an inappropriate item. Sometimes it lasts a week, sometimes months, but eventually it loses its squeak or gets ripped into pieces, and another one mysteriously appears to take its place.

I post about Kerby from time to time in the redundantly named Kerberosity category of this blog, and there’s a photo gallery, of course.