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| Name: |
Poggibonsi
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Age: |
Eight years old
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| Gender: |
Female |
Breed: |
Bichon, Terrier mix |
| Home: |
Santa Monica, California, USA |
Poggibonsi
(Poggi for short) has a vocabulary of over 200 words; she
understands everything. And, she can bow her say her prayers with her
paws Poggi is a very sweet, calm and social dog. She enjoys her walk to
our local coffee shop every morning to greet other customers. She is
especially fond of the coffee shop on Saturday mornings where the local
Alcoholics Anonymous group meet; so many people for her to meet and
socialize with! She loves to show off her tricks; saying her prayers
(she puts her two paws on my arm and bows her head down beneath them),
shake, rollover, "show me your belly", dance, speak, and my favorite
"give him sh**" where she goes into protective mode and growls/howls at
anyone I consider threatening. (I taught her this for our night
walks.) She loves to travel especially to Palm Springs where she's a
regular guest at the Viceroy Hotel and she loves Savannah, GA with the
horse-drawn carriages.
She is very independent and enjoys a good mischievous patrol of the
house after we leave. We always laugh when we have come home to a
"Poggi Party;" this is when something in the house is slightly out of
place or amiss, because she's been snooping around. She is a happy and
good dog, I have never had to use the word "bad" to her.
She knows the names of all her toys, Squeaky, Porky, Mini-Me, McCain,
Fluffy, Squirrel, Minkey, Santa Claus, Lamb, Frog, Deer, Sock, Paw,
Finger, Santa (not to be confused with Santa Claus), Tin, and Spot, and
will pick out the one I ask her to locate. She loves to play fetch with
these toys. She also loves to play the "hand game" where I put my hand
under a blanket, move it around and she chases it. Hide-and-seek is
also a favorite game after dinnertime. She loves to do wiggle-worm as
soon as she wakes up in the morning (she wiggles on the bed like a worm)
to let us know she is up.
She is very intelligent; she understands everything thing we say at
home. (We did not teach her baby/doggy talk, she understands human
vocabulary.) She is allergic to certain grass in our neighborhood and
she walks around on the curb or sidewalk to avoid the kind she is
allergic to. A few years ago when we were at my 97-year-old
grandmother's house, Poggi located her $1,000 hearing aid that had been
missing for several months. She just came into the sitting room,
dropped the hearing aid at my grandmother's feet and that was that. My
aunt had looked everywhere for it, and Poggi found it in five minutes.
One of our favorite rituals is when I return home (after I have pet
another dog). I will call to her "come smell the dog" and she will come
and sniff me over for five minutes.
She loves her DogFather, Ken who looks after her when we travel, Ken's
cat Howie, Lois and Clark (two other cats), Sylvia our housekeeper, and
all our friends. Howie and Poggi eat together, sleep together, play
together; it is an amazing relationship. When around cats that are not
receptive to her we tell her "leave the cat alone" and she simply walks
away. She loves to sunbathe...I have to put sunscreen on her belly; she
tans nicely.
She is not fond of the firefighters or paramedics when they showed up in
response to my 911 call last year. She suddenly turned into Cujo with
her fur up on her neck to protect me. A side of her that we had never
seen before.
All our neighbors love her and think she is the best dog they have ever
met! I agree.
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