Grunt
Without Prejudice
It seemed like he was dumb as an ox, a fat white blob of mischief and delight. Bob bouught him as a pup while we were away as Deb had always wanted one. He was to become our love and our protector and a constant source of laughter and amusement. Lauren wrote about his first encounter with Bob, when as a pup he peed all over hus chest. Steadily looking him in the eye as the warm pee trickled and Bob ever after said it looked like he was smiling when he did it.
He grew into an even bigger fat white blob. His mouth a curled sneer of black flubber, his nose always pink on the end of a big snout. no one was scared of Grunt, him being an English bull terrier and supposedly terrifying. This distressed him not a jot. he would stand day after day with his head pressed to the sliding glass door in the futile hope someone would feel sorry for him and let him in.
if he did manage to get inside he would scarf down everything in sight including once the entire contents of the cat litter tray and a whole stick of butter. Bob said the butter was OK and the cat litter tray was what Grunt thought were cat sausages.
He would drag his balls which were huge across the lawn everyday and occasionally allow a tiny pink thing to peep out like the top of a lipstick and Bob once again said he was "Just letting it breathe". we loved him and all his antics.
We were reminded more than once that he was still a wild animal, however, when he chased and killed the cat across the road. He just shook it once and broke its neck. He did the same thing to the little rag tag of a dog across the road and tried to kill it but managed only to injure it and that cost me a $120.00 in vet bills,
The girls would take him for walks and bring the big fat blob back in a shopping trolley as he would hyperventialte in excitement and collapse on the pavement, never to move again. he was too heavy to be carried and had to be put on Valium to go for a walk ever after.
He was as daft as a brush and Bob would allow him to sleep with him. Both laying on their backs and snoring was not a pretty sight to greet a tired Mother at the end of the day. Like owner, like dog. They do say an animal begins to resemble the owner and they both did. fat bellied and lying on their backs and snoring loudly. At least if Grunt was in the bed I didn't have to sleep with the owner which was always a blessing.
He saved the baby once from drowning in the pool. I had told Bob we needed a pool fence but would he build one? we manufactured and sold pool fencing ! But he did after Kyle's near fatal toddling attempt to gain access to the in ground pool we had. Yvette and I had just said,
"Where's Kyle?"
And then we saw him heading determinedly for the pool and Grunt literally pushed his body away, standing between Kyle and the pool, a silent sentinel. We then had time to unlock the side door and rush out and grab the baby and haul him up and Grunt was a hero that day.
he was a hero another day when at first he didn't come when he was called. Bob and I went in search of him and he was around the side of the house with a tiny new born kitten in his mouth, still alive and almost licked to death. Bob at first thought he had a rat and I stepped back and looked away,
"What have you got there, mate?" He asked and gently grunt put his new friend down on the concrete. his little charge was alive and his fur all was stuck up on end after Grunt had obviously been licking it. The tiny newborn we surmised had been thrown over our fence in an attempt to let the dog kill it and instead he wanted to "Hug him, and love him and squeeze him and call him George"
He ate all our Easter eggs one year, escaping inside at last and finding a basket of them. we followed the trail of ripped foil to Grunt's kennel and he smiled back at us with chocolate smeared lips. He tried to look guilty and it didn't work as his tail was thumping.
He also managed to get in another time and unwrapped all the Christmas presents under the tree, not in a tidy fashion either. he was so very dumb and unassuming and I would have another bully in a heart beat. He took the head off Alena's cabbage patch doll and we were able to get it mended as she was distraught about it. And he then fell in love with her teddy bear Justin and slept with it, licked it and tried to make love to it so many times that Alena relinquished it to him.
He was our baby boy, a fat white comical dog who had to be booted in to the pool to stop fights with Kelly, our kelpie. he would not unlock his jaw until the shock of the cold water hit him and he hated swimming. he also whined if he was sick and sparked up as soon as we neared the vets. He hated the vets with a passion as the trip usually involved needles and he was smart enough to know it. Not so dumb after all !
He and Kelly were good companions to each other. She had "followed" the girls home from school one day, supposedly. we were a bit sceptical as she had to have crossed a few major roads to do so.
but we welcomed her into the family as she looked like she had been beaten and cowed to the touch. She and Grunt played together and stood guard together at the gate. One time a man broke into our yard and the Police were right behind him and Grunt and Kelly just let them into the yard, tails wagging, some guard dogs they !
A boy the girls knew also snuck into the yard to pinch a tiny marijuana plant Y had growing in the glasshouse and Kelly limped when we saw her. The boy was stupid enough to say he had kicked her when he broke in and Deb knocked him out stone cold at Lasers when he said it and he was thrown out. We didn't know then that she could do that, knock out a man, but Bob taught the girls to box one day in the backyard when she and Y were getting bullied at school.
Obviously that stood them both in good stead for life as I have seen Y bring down a man while she was heavily pregnant, holding her six year old away fron the man with one hand and wrestling the man to the ground with the other.
Pity he didn't teach me to box I might have been able to hit Bob back in retaliation. He would never hit Deb as she could look him in the eye by the time she was 13. She grew tall and strong and took no shit from anyone.
She still doesn't. grunt was her dog and she bought another bully, Roxy but the female didn't have the charm of Grunt, didn't have his finesse and comical antics.
Grunt was a hero and legend and when we split up I sent him to the factory to be with Bob, Roxy and Kelly too. Bob said he looked out the office window once and saw what he thought was a piece of white paper flipping and turning on the vacant land opposite. he then realised it was Grunt, who had escaped. All the dogs ran away from the Factory never to be seen a again. hope they are all in a good place now,
Love Janette
It seemed like he was dumb as an ox, a fat white blob of mischief and delight. Bob bouught him as a pup while we were away as Deb had always wanted one. He was to become our love and our protector and a constant source of laughter and amusement. Lauren wrote about his first encounter with Bob, when as a pup he peed all over hus chest. Steadily looking him in the eye as the warm pee trickled and Bob ever after said it looked like he was smiling when he did it.
He grew into an even bigger fat white blob. His mouth a curled sneer of black flubber, his nose always pink on the end of a big snout. no one was scared of Grunt, him being an English bull terrier and supposedly terrifying. This distressed him not a jot. he would stand day after day with his head pressed to the sliding glass door in the futile hope someone would feel sorry for him and let him in.
if he did manage to get inside he would scarf down everything in sight including once the entire contents of the cat litter tray and a whole stick of butter. Bob said the butter was OK and the cat litter tray was what Grunt thought were cat sausages.
He would drag his balls which were huge across the lawn everyday and occasionally allow a tiny pink thing to peep out like the top of a lipstick and Bob once again said he was "Just letting it breathe". we loved him and all his antics.
We were reminded more than once that he was still a wild animal, however, when he chased and killed the cat across the road. He just shook it once and broke its neck. He did the same thing to the little rag tag of a dog across the road and tried to kill it but managed only to injure it and that cost me a $120.00 in vet bills,
The girls would take him for walks and bring the big fat blob back in a shopping trolley as he would hyperventialte in excitement and collapse on the pavement, never to move again. he was too heavy to be carried and had to be put on Valium to go for a walk ever after.
He was as daft as a brush and Bob would allow him to sleep with him. Both laying on their backs and snoring was not a pretty sight to greet a tired Mother at the end of the day. Like owner, like dog. They do say an animal begins to resemble the owner and they both did. fat bellied and lying on their backs and snoring loudly. At least if Grunt was in the bed I didn't have to sleep with the owner which was always a blessing.
He saved the baby once from drowning in the pool. I had told Bob we needed a pool fence but would he build one? we manufactured and sold pool fencing ! But he did after Kyle's near fatal toddling attempt to gain access to the in ground pool we had. Yvette and I had just said,
"Where's Kyle?"
And then we saw him heading determinedly for the pool and Grunt literally pushed his body away, standing between Kyle and the pool, a silent sentinel. We then had time to unlock the side door and rush out and grab the baby and haul him up and Grunt was a hero that day.
he was a hero another day when at first he didn't come when he was called. Bob and I went in search of him and he was around the side of the house with a tiny new born kitten in his mouth, still alive and almost licked to death. Bob at first thought he had a rat and I stepped back and looked away,
"What have you got there, mate?" He asked and gently grunt put his new friend down on the concrete. his little charge was alive and his fur all was stuck up on end after Grunt had obviously been licking it. The tiny newborn we surmised had been thrown over our fence in an attempt to let the dog kill it and instead he wanted to "Hug him, and love him and squeeze him and call him George"
He ate all our Easter eggs one year, escaping inside at last and finding a basket of them. we followed the trail of ripped foil to Grunt's kennel and he smiled back at us with chocolate smeared lips. He tried to look guilty and it didn't work as his tail was thumping.
He also managed to get in another time and unwrapped all the Christmas presents under the tree, not in a tidy fashion either. he was so very dumb and unassuming and I would have another bully in a heart beat. He took the head off Alena's cabbage patch doll and we were able to get it mended as she was distraught about it. And he then fell in love with her teddy bear Justin and slept with it, licked it and tried to make love to it so many times that Alena relinquished it to him.
He was our baby boy, a fat white comical dog who had to be booted in to the pool to stop fights with Kelly, our kelpie. he would not unlock his jaw until the shock of the cold water hit him and he hated swimming. he also whined if he was sick and sparked up as soon as we neared the vets. He hated the vets with a passion as the trip usually involved needles and he was smart enough to know it. Not so dumb after all !
He and Kelly were good companions to each other. She had "followed" the girls home from school one day, supposedly. we were a bit sceptical as she had to have crossed a few major roads to do so.
but we welcomed her into the family as she looked like she had been beaten and cowed to the touch. She and Grunt played together and stood guard together at the gate. One time a man broke into our yard and the Police were right behind him and Grunt and Kelly just let them into the yard, tails wagging, some guard dogs they !
A boy the girls knew also snuck into the yard to pinch a tiny marijuana plant Y had growing in the glasshouse and Kelly limped when we saw her. The boy was stupid enough to say he had kicked her when he broke in and Deb knocked him out stone cold at Lasers when he said it and he was thrown out. We didn't know then that she could do that, knock out a man, but Bob taught the girls to box one day in the backyard when she and Y were getting bullied at school.
Obviously that stood them both in good stead for life as I have seen Y bring down a man while she was heavily pregnant, holding her six year old away fron the man with one hand and wrestling the man to the ground with the other.
Pity he didn't teach me to box I might have been able to hit Bob back in retaliation. He would never hit Deb as she could look him in the eye by the time she was 13. She grew tall and strong and took no shit from anyone.
She still doesn't. grunt was her dog and she bought another bully, Roxy but the female didn't have the charm of Grunt, didn't have his finesse and comical antics.
Grunt was a hero and legend and when we split up I sent him to the factory to be with Bob, Roxy and Kelly too. Bob said he looked out the office window once and saw what he thought was a piece of white paper flipping and turning on the vacant land opposite. he then realised it was Grunt, who had escaped. All the dogs ran away from the Factory never to be seen a again. hope they are all in a good place now,
Love Janette
