Wofie, Lizzy, and Ares

Thinking back to my stay, these three puppies were almost always the first thing that cames to my mind. Being someone who never really had a pet, dealing with three was, quite an unique experience.

Wofie

Wofie, not very happy that the shutter sound woke him up

Wofie is the cloest defnition I have, if you asked me what a dog is like 5 years ago. Active, loyal, attention craving, as a Schnauzer with a giant ego, Wofie is, well, not very pleasent to interact with, to say the very least :’).

I tend prefer peace and quiet, so the sole existance of Wofie has, bothered me a little. He would be running around the house constantly, marking his territory, asserting his dominance over the other two (and sometimes me), if we ever left him unchecked for more than ten minutes. He would come over and yell at us if we are having too much fun without him at the dinner, and brak for hours, just to chase the bird outside away, who is merely trying to built a nest.

As unpleasent as he was to deal with, as the most straightforward one out of all three, Wofie was the first that I was able to understood. If he barks he wants to go outside, if he growls someone is in his way, and if he does anything else, well, he is probably looking for a treat…

Thinking back, Wofie might just have being the most brilliant human trainer I have met. He is honest, straightforward, doesn’t hide away his feelings and never overthinks, which helped us greatly to gave him what he wanted.

Lizzy

Lizzy, sleeping on the bed where I sleep :')

A Dachshund and Schnauzer mix, Lizzy remained as my host family’s favorite through my time there. She is ‘Liz’ for host mom, and ‘my baby girl’ for host dad. She enjoys the first 10 minutes of every walk, likes to sleep on the sofa whenever someoen is there, and loves to destory toys, whenever we buy her something squeaky :’).

Aside from her charisma, Lizzy has a sense of curiocity that can only be found from a puppy. She would come and sniff every package delivered at the front porch, and meeting new people with some lick on the face. In the summer of 2017, that curiocity got her bitten by a rattle snake, along with three nights of stay in the pet hospital. After that the urge of getting to know everything has rapidly cooled down, though still, whenever she would hear someone standing at the door, she would still rush to the door, stand up with her tails swingglings from side to side, just to see who is there.

Ares

Ares with his innocent look

The host family’s son adopted Ares and named him after the god of war. Contrary to this aggresive name though, as a pit bull, Ares is surprisingly chill and quite, just like me B).

Sleeping and walking are really the only two activies Ares does. On a typicaly day, he would drag himself to the living room sofa, lay there comfortably until the afternoon, where the host mom (and sometimes I) would take him for a walk. After the walk, he would return to his favorite spot on the sofa, sleep there until the evening, where he would go to my host dad’s room and enjoy the rest of the night there.

As low energy as Ares sound, he turns into a different dog whenever he is outside. He would drag me forward, dig holes on the ground, bite the leash and growls at me if I am going too slow :’).

Ares loves anywhere but the house, to the point where he ran away, twice, during the time of my stay. The first time he ran all the way to my high school (which is about 10 minutes by car and 30 minutes by foot), and got carried back by some very kind construction workers across the street. The second time he appeantly he ran to the other side of the hill, it was late at night, all we knew was, he got taken back by a even nicer driver who, eh, almost hit him on the street.

We now get nervous evertime Ares eyes at the front door lol, though as troublesome as he is, would say Ares has been a great partner whenever I decides to do work at the living room sofa. He never craves for attention, seldomly barks even when there are bird chipping outside, and simply rolls over if he wants some belly scarch, letting me enjoys my afternoon without constantly looking out for him :).

Ending Thoughts

It would be an exaggeration compare these dogs to people I lived with during my stay, though I do think back to these interactions, more than any students who were there. Always be on my bed when I wanted to take a nap, swallow food on the floor faster than I could pick them back up, play dead and smile at exactly halfway of a walk, still not sure if I ever enjoyed their company. Nonetheless though, being something that has feelings and emotions, they were one of the first creatures that I actively try to understand, and something that still lingers around my memory, even today :).