Conversations with My Dog E-Book

Roxana Nastase

• Herausgeber: Roxana Nastase
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Having a conversation with your dog may seem like a fulfilling experience. You initiate the topic, present your arguments, and eventually win the debate, right?

However, it's not always so straightforward. It largely depends on your dog's personality, and one thing you should never underestimate is your furry friend's stubbornness.

Leseprobe

CONVERSATIONS WITH MY DOG

––––––––

ROXANA NASTASE

Table of Contents

Title Page

SCARLET LEAF | 2021

DISCLAIMER

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

PSEUDO INTRODUCTION

SELECTIVE HEARING ISSUE

WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVE OTHER THINGS TO DO? I AM THE MOST IMPORTANT IN THE ROOM, AND YOU EXIST PURELY TO SERVE ME.

COSMOS SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF A PUG

OCD IN A DOG

AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY

BOOKS BY ROXANA NASTASE

EXCERPT | “A CHANGE OF HEART”

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

Sign up for Roxana Nastase's Mailing List

Further Reading: MacKay - Canadian Detectives Series Book One

About the Publisher

SCARLET LEAF

2021

© 2021 by ROXANA NASTASE

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the author’s prior written permission, except for a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a newspaper, magazine or journal.

––––––––

Toronto, Canada

IN MY FATHER'S MEMORY, he was an animal lover, a kind and fair human being.

May he rest in peace.

The lessons he imparted will never be forgotten.

DISCLAIMER

I do not want you to believe that I am a sane person. But then, I still want you to avoid throwing this book into the pile of unreadable books just because it seems too out there.

Therefore, I will begin with a disclaimer:

* Reading these pseudo-essays, you might think that Rex is a feral little beast, far from the truth. I do not want to tarnish him, and I would be disappointed to let you believe he is a wild animal without training.

Rex might show the social skills of a porcupine now, but that is neither here nor there. He has just become one. In the beginning, my pug was far from that.

He finished first in obedience class when he was four months and a half old. However, he indeed decided not to obey anymore once the class ended. That speaks more of his stubbornness than anything else.

A friendly pup, he loved mixing in groups and listening to gossip.

At that time, we lived in a house that shared the backyard with several other residences inhabited by older people. Their pleasure lay in gathering and gossiping every morning and afternoon.

Rex loved to attend those meetings. He would mingle with the neighbours, listening to their discussions, entranced as if he had heard the most astonishing stories.

Unfortunately, he also had a naughty streak, which led to his strangling himself at six months old. Finding him on the brink of the other world, I saved him, but Rex stopped being the same friendly pup, eager to share people's company, and mine has sufficed ever since.

A pug behaving differently than any other pug, Rex turned into a complex and strange dog, his quirks too many to count.

So, please, look with benevolence upon him. Rex tries to do his best with what he has got.

* Throughout this book, I slightly changed some endearment terms I usually use. In truth, I sometimes use them in English, other times in French or Romanian.

Their quality changes with the translation. Still, the exact ones are not important in understanding the content of this book, so I will not be too concerned about it.

* Recollections may vary – or, at least, that is what my dog, Rex, would say. My truth is not his and vice-versa. You are allowed to choose which one you prefer to believe.

Still, until Rex learns to write, I fear my truth will always prevail. He lucked out as it will take some time until he takes such an endeavour, or it may be in a future life.

Too bad for him, but in fact, I am too happy for myself to care very much. Who does not love to have their opinion favoured? I, for one, indeed do.

* I might have been on the losing side in many of our wit battles. However, I don't intend to do it here as well, even though it might seem so.

So, if you feel that I am too confident or arrogant in presenting our... let's say, discussions, feel free to turn your nose up or leave a scolding review on the page of this book. I can assure you that I will live with both situations just fine.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I have to thank Rex for contributing to this book. Without his constant presence in my life, this book would not have seen the light of the print (or the digital publication).

The endless hours of barking and howling whenever he did not like something had something to do with it, too.

Rex deserves to be praised as the main character of all these essays.

PSEUDO INTRODUCTION

I will not delve into what a conversation means. You do not need a definition; if you look for one, you can easily find it in a dictionary.

Moreover, I do not intend to deliver a lecture or sound didactic and pedant. I do not intend to fill in pages with lessons that no one wants to read or that would bore me senseless only by putting them on paper, so to speak.

I am definitely against getting bored. Life is already full of boring stuff without piling it inside of a book as well.

Whoever knows me well will tell you I refuse to bow in front of the stuffy things that fill my daily existence. I always look for something that could ignite a spark of interest in my mind. Who knows? Maybe my words will have a chance to ignite some excitement in yours as well.

Still, I should mention that, in my opinion, a conversation can be very revealing, regardless of the subject discussed. Even when we utter nonsense, we offer a glimpse into our mind and, why not, our soul.

We might feel we can hide behind words, but that is only an illusion. That is why I avoid conversing altogether when keeping the veil on is necessary.

With Rex, there is no such need. Pretense is a waste of time, and silence would not help at all. There is no way of shutting him up if he feels like talking. Short of stuffing his mouth with something juicy, nothing else works.