Mon - April 11, 2005

A steady gait

What is a path but a collection of footsteps?

The determined and plodding gait, the refusal to toss aside our convictions ... a dog knows that life is best dealt with directly and without trickery.
What is the adage? The old dog can't be taught new tricks? My dear, the old dog doesn't want to learn them ...

The old dog, and this old dog in particular, notes two events from the week just behind us.

Pope John Paul Ii left us, and there is sadness and reflection in his wake. Yet he left on his own terms, having discovered that after a long life of reflection, philosophy and fearlessness that he had lessons yet to learn and to teach.
His old age and illness became yet another of his demonstrations of the noble life. We all have such nobility but too often we shun it, preferring to look the other way at infirmity and mortality.

Old dogs, again, know that age is just another step in the walk.

I am an old dog now, and tremble and creak when I first get up. But I know how to pace myself, and no one is my better when it comes to knowing the halfway mark of the daily walk. Plodding is what gets you there.

Only an old dog knows the trick of time.

Plodding and time? Britain's Prince Charles ... there is no better example of why Britain has survived and endured when so many empires and countries have fallen by the wayside. Endurance and the boring insistence on convictions. When our legs creak and our bones ache, it is conviction that will carry us on the final leg of our journey.
Ask the old dogs. We know.
--Nigel

Posted at 06:51 PM      

Thu - April 15, 2004

Down Under and Under the weather

Miele the Cat sends Miles the Dog on a very long journey.
... We wish an ailing friend a fast recovery.

He's red, he's a wire fox terrier, and he's from the Sylvac line.
He's just arrived on our shores, all the way from Melbourne, Australia.
Miles just joined Mr. Doodle's Dog as assistant mascot!
Miele (that's "Honey" in Italian) the Orange Cat decided it was time for his ceramic dog to see America, and so off Miles went. Of course, Miele is an Internet friend of Joe the Cat. Naturally, the two cats loved the idea of a red Doodle Dog.
Cat humor.


Miele has tried for years to give up mousing by switching
to cartoon mice. Alas, old habits die hard. And so do mice.

Miles joins a small troupe of ceramic canines. We admit to a weakness for such things. The more the merrier and all that.
There are some who think that ceramic dogs are nothing more than magnets for dust bunnies. We're not denying the attraction, but we can live with it. Life without little ceramic and plastic dogs? Unthinkable.


Miles receives pointers on American slang from Joe the Cat.
Joe holds a Casters degree in linguistics. It's true.

Our little red mascot is already up and running, inciting mass ceramic dog demonstrations and creating slogans for solidarity movements. How about "Red Dogs. Dusted Daily"?
Thank you for sending Miles to us, Miele. He's already a part of the pack.
___

Our good friend Chad is ill and has been in the hospital since Tuesday. His good friend Miss Bunny has gone there to keep a watch at his bedside. Please send positive thoughts Chad's way.

Posted at 10:24 PM      

Fri - January 9, 2004

The Origin of the Species

Which came first?
The board game or the Doodle Dogs?

The Junior Edition of Selchow & Righter's Mr. Doodle's Dog. We think this is from the 1930s.
It's one of our most prized possessions ... our Stone of Scone.

We've had several inquiries about the origin of our blog's visual inspiration, the board game Mr. Doodle's Dog.
We can tell you that we think it's a cool game, with a raffish-looking wire fox terrier on the cover (the aforementioned "Dog") but ... We confess that we know little about its origin.
We stumbled across this little item ... the way you would stumble over a choice bone in your yard .. on ebay. I think we were doing a search for board games.
Or maybe we were bored.
After a minor bidding skirmish, the game landed in our laps.
Later on, we became curious about it, and wandered back to ebay. Another copy of the game was up for grabs, and there was some information listed with it.
According to the seller, Mr. Doodle's Dog was originally a character from the busy pen of a Newark, New Jersey newspaperman and children's book author named
Howard R. Garis.We've been unable to confirm that Mr. Garis wrote a story about a Mr. Doodle or that Mr. Doodle had a dog.
But, considering the hundreds of children's books that Mr. Garis is responsible for ... and come on, he wrote Mr. Wiggily, and that inspired a board game ... it's entirely possible that Mr. Garis created the characters for Mr. Doodle's Dog.
The board game, that is, not us. No one is responsible here.
We can tell you a bit about the game, though. You don't have to be a dog to play. Although it might help if you played like a dog.


The game board. The rings are intended to be bones, by the way ... and the rules seem to favor the dog. That's how it should be.

The complete game instructions can be found here. Just scroll down to "rules.'
As you might guess, the dog involved is a rascal, and prone to stealing and burying bones. The official rules describe him as being "clever."
That old phrase. Translation: this dog will steal you blind.
The object of the game is to catch this clever dog before he returns to his dog house with his loot ... or bones.
Why anyone would want a bone after it's been trailed through town is a mystery ... and what are these bones doing out where this dog can snatch them? Curious. This dog strikes us as being somewhat of a Robin Hood of dogs ... nabbing from the rich and clueless and giving to the poor.
Always a good idea.
That's all we know about Mr. Doodle's Dog. If you have any information on this game, please drop us a line.
Find a copy if you can. It's worth its weight in bones.
--Nigel

Posted at 07:52 AM      

Wed - September 24, 2003

He's a doodle and he's dandy

We get a wire from Bermuda.

Gimlet and Nigel meet Sylvac, the model for the logo of Mr. Doodle's Dog.
Sylvac just arrived in Dunedin. He left Bermuda three weeks ago.


Time for a drink after the long trip from Bermuda. Welcome aboard!

Posted at 10:31 PM      

Wed - August 6, 2003

Wee Meat Again

Our top dogs convene to discuss dogstyle.

What? No one brought biskits!

Posted at 09:14 PM      

Fri - July 18, 2003

Travis McGimlet?

Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover.

We don't know what this book is about. It could be fiction.
But we like the title, and that's a fact.

Posted at 09:16 AM      

Thu - July 17, 2003

Doggone and Woebegone

What a week!

What a week this has been.
And it's only Thursday.

We need enlightenment.
We need entertainment.
We need weapons.

Too many deserving Bite Club candidates out there.
Calling The Great Dogma ...

Posted at 08:10 AM