Jack: the paradox.

Paradox [par-uh-doks]:(noun)any person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory nature. (Dictionary.com)

                  It has been said, that Jack is a walking contradiction, a paradox if you will. This theory is very easy to prove. You could talk about how he is a giant yet is half the size of an average dog, or how he is smart but oh so every stupid. Or, you could talk about the morals of the dog, how he is innocent but devilish. A writer could expand on these inferences and make a good length interesting paper. But I the master of this paper will do the much harder task of convincing you all that Jack Is a completely average dog.

                There is no chance of convincing you that Jack is not in any way particular. We have seen do impressive things. We have seen jack do things that most dogs struggle to do. We have seen Jack run through snow inches taller than he is; we were with him when his master gave him foods to see what the reaction would be. And you know that Jack is capable of doing all sorts of weird things.

                I have quoted this before, but the message is still relevant “A person is a person no matter how small” (Dr. Seuss). All things on this earth are different; some things have stronger differences than others. Some creatures are small while others are tall. Some are slow, some aren’t. From an evolutionary standpoint we are all completely random conglomerates of matter. From a religious view, we are all formed in a very precise image. But I am not here to talk about the current debates of the world. I am here to talk about Jack, and the dogs.

       An average dog is 67-70 centimeters tall, and 95-100cm long (Monroe).  Jack may not be within the stereotypical size range, but he doesn’t care. In fact the only thing that is bothered by jacks unique physique, are humans. All of the true friends that Jack has adore the dimensions that the dog has.  As I have posted about before, Jack is a very popular dog. Jack has no problem making friends.

                The way that most dogs make friends is different than the way that humans make friends. But there are a few things that both man and dog care about: both man and dog care about attitude, and smell (Johnson). Firstly though, let’s talk about attitude, no one wants to be around you when you are being annoying (this holds true to both species). But for dogs, they mostly care if the other being has similar play patterns. Secondly we come to the topic of smell: smell has different effects on the various beings. For humans, we mostly avoid malodorous things. While with dogs, they openly embrace the scents of the world. Dogs use the sense of scents to see if they are similar to the creature that they are around. This is the reason that dogs get close and smell the lower region of the body.

                But why does any of this matter, so far I have told you that jack is a strange dog. I have told you the average measurements of the species, and that jack does not fit in the projected requirements of a dog. And I have reminded you that a person is a person despite their size. And I told you the way that dogs make friends.

                Jack is regarded as “weird”; if he was a human he could be considered a prodigy. Humans have accepted the fact that we are “weird”, but we have a stereotype for an ideal dog. Dogs are not usually considered as weird, they are either normal or not. We have seen Jack do remarkable things, things that an average dog can’t do. And for this he is considered weird. But he is only weird amongst humans and cats, to all other creatures he is likened unto a god. He is this unlikely creature who came from unknown descent. He came to brighten their day and lead them into a promised land (Jack lead the great purge of 1812(actually he just lead him and his mates from the big dog park to the small dog park, he lead them down the park, through the gate (which he opened) to attack the little dogs)). Although Jack is a remarkable being, you stereotypical beasts will never let him be anything but weird.

Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com. Web. 16 Dec. 2014. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/paradox?s=t>.

Monroe, Byron. "Dog Breed Size Chart." Dog Breed Size Chart. 7 Feb. 2012. Web. 16 Dec. 2014. <http://www.dogsindepth.com/dog_breed_size_chart.html>.

Johnson, Jane. "How Dogs Learn, How Dogs Think." Shiba Shake. Web. 16 Dec. 2014. <http://shibashake.com/dog/how-dogs-learn-how-dogs-think>.

much a dog about nothing

        During the thanks giving/fall/autumn vacation break, my family (my mother, father and Christian) and jack went on a trip to Wyoming to see our extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins and all the weird people that we love). We stayed there for two days, then we went to Idaho to see our more immediate family (Rachel and husband) we stayed there for the remaining vacation time then we went home. You may have said to yourself "that sounds like a lot of driving". You would not be wrong, it was roughly 1730 miles total, this would have been fine, but we were with Jack

     Usually Jack rides in a car every one to two weeks, the trip is almost always to the dog park. In this trip jacks whining gets louder as we get closer to the park, when we are at the park jacks’ whining evolves to him running around and jumping in the car. The Davis family has many stories of Jack at the park, and half of the stories are from the car ride over. Stories like the time Jack jumped out of the window, the time Christian forgot the way to the park, the mailman incident, and countable more instances. So my point being, Jack does not travel well.

     At the start of the drive, the dog was sitting next to me (he was in the rear left spot) he on a very short leash tied to the rear of the car (I took pictures of this but lost my phone). His whining went as usual, until he realized we were not going to the dog park. In short let’s just say that his whining was almost unbearable. Jacks leash was just long enough for him to reach the driver’s seat (my dad’s seat). Although his leash only went to the chair, the giraffe neck and dog tongue was able to reach the father. So, one thing lead to another and leash's length was shortened to half its original length. We were able to travel about thirty miles until further renovations were needed. By the end of the trip Jack was in the back of the car, he and the luggage traded places. He stayed in the back for the rest of the trips. He was relatively calm from then on.

      Whilst we were in Wyoming, the area that we were in had about two to three feet of snow. It was quite entertaining to watch jack run through the snow that matched him in height. He earned the name Kangaroo Jack. 

      Within the families that were living at the residence of witch we were staying, there were four dogs. The dogs earned secret names in my mind; there was Gluttony, Envy, Sloth, and Pride. The dogs actions reflected the predominately features of their owners. Let’s start with Gluttony, this little beast wished to only sit around and eat everything. Envy, this thing was supper annoying; all it wanted was for your attention. Sloth, I liked sloth, he was super chill and really didn't nothing. Pride, this little one was the leader of this party. I am glad that Lust and Wrath were unable to come to this reunion.

Web. 16 Dec. 2014. <https://www.google.com/maps/dir/5365 Cypress Point Dr, Reno, NV 89502,                 USA/Wyoming/Boise, ID/5365 Cypress Point Dr, Reno, NV 89502, USA   

Dog gone it

    Before this week’s observations I did some research on things that dogs do not like (mother nature network). In my research, I found that dogs and Christian (me) are very similar. Dogs are said to not like it when the humans use words other than body language, and I Christian believe that the people who don’t speak with hands are sociopathic murderers. Another thing that dogs hate is hugging and petting their face/head, Christian is opposed to all kinds of touching. The next thing that dogs are said to ridicule, is not providing structure or rules; I already suffer from ADHD  and possibly other brain abnormalities I can’t handle not having strict and precise planning and structure in my life. This one is fairly obvious "forcing your dog to interact with dogs or people he clearly doesn't like". I typically like people, but if I don’t like you, you know that I don’t like you. This next one most masters don’t understand, "going for walks without opportunity to explore and smell". Just the other day I went to the doctor’s office and I tried to see everything there was too see in the room. But the master (dad) did not allow this, he told me to sit still and wait for the doctor. So after a minute I distracted my master with a game on one of those had held shiny things, at this time I looked at all the things in the room. Other things that dogs don’t like is when their humans are being boring, or tense. This is the reason I am an entertainer. I stop people from being tense or boring. When I was younger, I asked people if they were boring. I am still bad at first impressions.

      As you may have noticed, I am yet to take notice of the dog Jack. I have always known that jack is different than most dogs. Most of the rules that I have previously written about do not apply to the dog. The first rule that I mentioned, the one dealing words/body language does not apply to Jack. Jack does not care what you have to say, in this way he is like a honey badger. With the rule of dogs hating hugging, Jack hugs me. You know how dogs are said to not like their faces patted? One of jack’s favorite games is called slap snout: in this game my dad (the head-master) slaps jacks snout. And he loves this. “Not providing structure and rules", we tried hard to set guide lines for jack, again Jack is a honey badger. He doesn’t care. "Forcing your dog to interact with dogs he clearly doesn't like", well, I have never met a dog who Jack does not adore. So I don’t have experience with this topic. The rest of the rules Jack mostly follows, these are the rules dealing with being boring, tense, and not letting him adventure.

     The oddities of Jack could even inspire an average person, if you look at him the right way. 

    No matter how weird you look or how socially awkward you are, you still are what you are. Jack is a not an average dog. He is short, long, big, small, and just     wrong. But jack is still a dog; he will be what he is, despite how hard he tries. This brings me to the words of my favorite doctor. "A person is a person no matter how small (or big)" (Dr. Seuss).

jack and the woes of the world

      This week I gave Jack various kinds of food. Like most kids, Jack doesn't enjoy his vegetables, but, unlike children, Jack is not fond of most kinds of candy. However, he wants one of the only things that could possibly be his end, chocolate. 

     On day one, I was sitting on my bed, eyeing an old batch of movie theater popcorn. Not having a use for the stale stuff, I decided to give it (kernel by kernel) to the kid beside me. He loved it.

      Once Jack experimented with popcorn, I wanted to see what else he would eat. After popcorn, the obvious next choice is pop rocks. I placed a mild sized pile of pop rocks onto the ground, Jack approached, sniffed and then proceeded to eat. when the rocks took  hold of his mouth, the crackling and snapping of the atomic candy exploding in his jowls. I really expected Jack to run around in search of water, this did not occur. Instead the dog just looked up at me, paused, and walked away. This was one of the instances that I have wondered, "do dogs know more that the humans perceive?"(Observation journal). 

      The next time that Jack came into contact with human food (to my knowledge) was two days later. The location, my bed. The time, bed time. Murder weapon chocolate. (No, Jack does not die). So I was lying on my bed, pushing off sleeping. At this time The Dog, Jack, jumps on my bed, sniffs around and eventually lies down. After a little while I open a package of Twix, Jack being the young spry pooch that he is comes and asks me what I’m doing. I told Jack a saying that my grandfather told me, "curiosity killed the cat, and chocolate kills the dog".  Jack did not listen to my council, one thing lead to another and the dog was sick in the morning.

       At first glance, this is a story of a boy and his dog. But if you look at this story with metaphorical eyes, you can see the entirety of human nature. 

You see jack. The world gives him a gift (popcorn); the little dog believes that he is on the up side of life. Then the world gives you something that seems sweet on appearances, but quite literally blows up in your face (pop rocks). At this point the dog is striving for anything to go his way. He even goes as far as thievery to get what he wants (the taking of the chocolate). This bringing the pooch to his tragic downfall (again the dog is very alive).

no rest for the wicked

      This week my dad has been working in Utah. This shouldn't have pertained to Jack, but, it did. An average day for jack consists of waking up, going outside, eating food, laying around, and getting super hyper when people come home. And on an average day my father would run jack, or make him run. But being that my father was not home, the dog ran around, through, over and under the house. 

       My entries to my observation book mostly consisted of jack being a pathetically annoying pooch. The tireless creature also didn’t sleep; he made it his mission to keep us awake as well. The dog barked and barked, and didn’t stop till he was let out. We let him into the house after about an hour of barking. On these nights jack slept on my bed.
       This hypertension derives from jack not running or moving. i am busy on most days of the week, and my mom is aslo busy and 
I forgot to mention in my last post, jack is 65 inches from nose to tip of tail. He is now 75 pounds and is still only a foot off the ground. The tail of the beast makes the old puppy a foot taller or longer.

Intro to Jack

    This first entry will be an introduction to my dog, Jack The Dog. My dog’s complete name is Jack The Dog, but his friends call him Jack. We have had Jack for about one year, and in this year he has grown in many ways. When we first got Jack, he weighed 65 pounds; he was 56 inches from nose to tail and is barely a foot off the ground... at first jack was completely black and white. Currently Jack is black white brown and has spots. As a family we have watched Jack grow to the dog that he is now.

    Jack is a dog who lives in terms of curiosity, if any one thing catches his attention he will run to it. Jack is a Basset hound, pit bull, lab mix (hence his body shape). Jack is a contradiction in his being. He is big yet little. He is wise yet is a dog. At first impressions he is either adorable or the weirdest thing that a dog could be. At the park, Jack is the most popular dog (among dogs and humans). 

    Jack The Dog is the most emotional non-human that I have come in contact with. This does not mean that he comes to my room and cries about how Socks (Jacks best friend) doesn’t want to be his friend any more. I describe Jack as emotional because you can see exactly what he is thinking (mostly). For example a week ago Jacks cousin, Tank, visited him for three days before going home. At this point Jack went through severe depression. All he did was mope around, he didn't talk to anyone. His sleep patterns changed, he lost weight, and was behaving recklessly (all symptoms of depression (I looked it up)). After a couple days he bounced back, he stopped eating ice and started eating and running. 

     Before I mentioned his curiosity, this dog is about as curious as his buddy George (he is a very popular dog). Curiosity has gotten Jack into lots of trouble, like they say "curiosity killed the cat, but only irritated the dog". An example of this took place about a week ago, location: my back yard, occurrence: Jack got skunked. This was unpleasant for everyone. We gave Jack a shower; instead of soap we used a formula of bleachy types of cleaners. My parents thought that jack would have bleached blond hair after this.

    Well this brings me to the end of Jacks introduction. Until next time keep your thoughts on Jack The Dog.