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Illinois

* Today is National Dog Day, so here’s a pic of Oscar at the car wash. He loves that parrot…

* The Question: Your favorite dog story? Extra credit if you can somehow connect your story to Illinois politics.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Aug 26, 19 @ 3:08 pm

Comments

We had a border collie but never taught it to herd animals (we wouldn’t have the first clue how). Peanuts (the dog) loved hanging around the cows, and usually didn’t chase them, at least not too much. When the cows got out though, and Dad and I were running around after them trying to get them back inside the fence or barn, well THEN she wanted in on the game too. -_- -_- -_- She would run them every which way EXCEPT where we wanted, of course. We had to tie her up when they got out or we were trying to catch them just to avoid her “help”.

Comment by Perrid Monday, Aug 26, 19 @ 3:17 pm
Years ago there was debate about a bill to create a criminal penalty for using a dog as a weapon. Bill Black went on and on about how he likes to walk his little dog. Black said that when it rains, he would pick up his dog and put it under his coat to keep it dry. He closed by inquiring, if the dog popped out of his coat and bit somebody, would there be an aggravated penalty for carrying a concealed dog. I’m not Mr. Black oratory skills any justice, but it was quite hilarious.

Comment by SAP Monday, Aug 26, 19 @ 3:32 pm
My dog Whiskers was a scrapper. I grew up in Kankakee from the mid-fifty’s to the mid-sixties. He was given to us as an adult dog, and in those days you didn’t have to leach your dog, and I doubt any leash, chain or dock rope would have held him back anyway. He’s take off in the morning, and sometimes come back at night, for supper, pretty beat up. I’m sure other dog owners had the same circumstance thanks to my mutt. One day a local hardware store had a anniversary sale and as a come-on, they were giving away baby chicks - cute as can be. My brother and I shared a room with twin beds, so we decided to put the box with the half-dozen chicks between the beds, and then try to figure out how to tell the folks about our terrific, FREE baby chicks. Later that evening We were watching TV in the den, and I noticed Whiskers wasnt in whit us, as he always was by habit. I asked out loud, “Where’s Whiskers? We got goggle eyed and slack jawed and ran to the bedroom - all we could see between the beds was a tail swishing back and forth….”WHISKERS!!”……slowly his head popped up with feathers plastered around his mouth……

Comment by Sayitaintso Monday, Aug 26, 19 @ 3:35 pm
I have a beagle mix that would likely qualify to be part of the “beagle brigade” due to his nose and food drive if it wasn’t for medical issues. First time I took him to a drive in movie theater, a random woman ran up and asked if she could pet him. I say sure, but did not know that she had food in the crook of her elbow. My dog knew immediately and jumped up as she bent over. Next thing I know, he has half of a hotdog in his mouth and is running around trying to eat it in one bite as I am trying to pry it out of his mouth. At least the lady thought it was funny at the time, and I didn’t have to buy another hotdog for her.

Comment by SpfdNewb Monday, Aug 26, 19 @ 3:49 pm
Still remember Mike Howlett running against Jim Thompson for Governor the first time and saying, “At the moment his dog’s name is Gov. If he wins this race, he’ll be throwing bones to the dog he’s renamed Prez”.

Comment by A guy Monday, Aug 26, 19 @ 4:06 pm
Long ago, when I first joined Twitter (back before it was the format it’s evolved into today and was generally pretty trivial), I did so using the name of my dog and tweeted from the viewpoint of that dog. At one point, I invented a whole story about the wild party my next door neighbors were hosting (told completely from the dog’s perspective). I *may* have mentioned that then-Mayor Daley was even at this fictitious party. Ray Long, the Trib’s political reporter, started following me after that… He was my first celebrity follow, but didn’t last long (presumably, he realized my account was a dog’s eye view, not real political news).

Comment by Rububily Monday, Aug 26, 19 @ 4:07 pm
Not a dog story, but since you have a photo of a parrot, a talking bird story:

Back in the early 60’s, we took a vacation to Florida with my grandparents. We stopped at a Stuckey’s, and they had a talking bird on a perch. I don’t know it it was a mynah bird or what.

Anyway this bird is giving the wolf whistle toward women and talking away, then starts scratching itself with its foot. My grandfather said to it, “You got bugs?” And the bird replies, “Huh?”

Comment by Streator Curmudgeon Monday, Aug 26, 19 @ 4:08 pm
I also forgot about the time a Rottweiler ran onto the field during football practice. She just wanted to play with us kids (we were about 10 yrs old then), while all of us scattered because she was a big dog and scared us. The owner coming over screaming her name and watching the dog just roll in the grass near the 50 yard line was pretty funny.

Comment by SpfdNewb Monday, Aug 26, 19 @ 4:15 pm
In lieu of a story, I offer a song: The Bottle Rockets - “Dog”

– MrJM

Comment by @misterjayem Monday, Aug 26, 19 @ 4:25 pm
Twilight parade 2012, walking at the front of the parade route with Gov Quinn’s staff. The young lady who ran GOCA at the time, Donna something-or-other, brought her boyfriend and their cocker spaniel. About three blocks down 9th street, just before the underpass, the dog squats and poops right in the middle of the street.

Of course, there are hundreds of people and dozens of vehicles coming right behind us but she tries, at the risk of being run over, to pick it up. She tries to clean it up, only to get yelled at by several people for stopping the flow of the parade. So she leaves it there and keeps going. Hundreds of people had to swerve around the pile for the rest of the night. Some poor band kid probably stepped in it.

Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Monday, Aug 26, 19 @ 4:28 pm
Not mine but this one has a political connection …

Friend in Menard County owned a German Shepard named Schindler (aside, his idea of a joke since he is Jewish). Anyway, the then current Sheriff was campaigning and knocked on the door. My friend and the door stepped outside. While the sheriff was giving his reelection pitch, Schindler proceeded to water the Sheriff’s leg and shoe. The Sheriff didn’t even bat an eye … proving he was a true politician and would do almost anything for a vote.

Comment by RNUG Monday, Aug 26, 19 @ 4:28 pm
My 10 year old, 25 pound dog once ran into the house, stole a full Jimmy Johns sub from my coffee table, took it upstairs under a bed, and had it polished off before I returned to my living room from letting her into the house. It was like the scene from A Christmas Story except she was so fast and efficient about it, I seriously thought I misplaced my sandwich somehow. The only evidence I had (besides being alone when a sandwich went missing) was when I found her under the bed, she licked her lips once, as if to tell me “You can’t prove I did it, but thanks for the roast beef.”

Comment by OutOfState Monday, Aug 26, 19 @ 4:34 pm
This one is mine. Had a APL rescue mutt. We had a 3 1/2 foot fence around the yard. He would jump the fence, go roaming, and then come home and sat in the alley by the gate, barking to be let back in. He never did figure out he could get back in by jumping the fence.

Comment by RNUG Monday, Aug 26, 19 @ 4:34 pm
Had a framed William Crook drawing of the Gov’s mansion. I had asked Blago sign it, which he finally did. As it was on the floor one day–I was deciding where (or whether) to hang it–my Pug comes along, sniffs, studies it, lifts his leg and proceeds to calmly urinate on or around Rod’s name. The dog knew something even back then about Blago.

Comment by Yiddishcowboy Monday, Aug 26, 19 @ 4:35 pm
Oscar watching that ‘boid reminds me of watching Illinois politics and politicians…always watching the show.

Comment by revvedup Monday, Aug 26, 19 @ 5:37 pm
What a timely post… this just happened last week.

My wife was training our golden retriever to fetch by using the bait and switch technique. With two tennis balls, the idea is to toss one which the song chases and returns at which time you show the dog the second ball…he focuses on that ball and drops the first ball and then you throw the second ball. Keep repeating until the dog learns to drop the ball and wait for it to be thrown again.

So, my wife tries the first ball…retriever chases and returns, spies the second ball and drops the first…perfect.

The dog chases the second ball, runs and looks that my wife has now picked up the second ball…runs behind a bush and buries the ball and then returns for the second ball.

Illinois connection…easy. What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine, too.

Comment by Commonsense in Illinois Monday, Aug 26, 19 @ 7:19 pm
We had a standard poodle named Coco. When he got bored, he would get our attention by grabbing the end of the toilet paper and tp-ing the dining room.

Alternately, he would run up to you and bark or grab something and run to our oblong dining room table. He’d run this way and that while you would try to chase him, but you couldn’t catch him unless there were two of us.
I know there’s got to be a political story in there somewhere.

Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Tuesday, Aug 27, 19 @ 1:28 am
Have 2 dog stories
As a kid, my younger sister had a yellow lab with the most gentle mouth. The dog could carry a water balloon in her mouth, without breaking it, for blocks. However, she was a terror to the neighborhood schnauzers. Parents paid several thousand dollars for vet bills to avoid the threat of lawsuits. Shortly before the dog died, we had an extended family party. My youngest cousin was a toddler who was petting the dog, pulling her ears, pounding on her, essentially harassing the old dog. Dog would get up and move, baby would follow. Finally, with a roar, the dog announced it had had enough and put the baby’s face in her mouth. Scared everyone to death, baby was pried out of the dog’s mouth. Everyone was expecting the worst, bloody, torn up face. There wasn’t a mark on his pudgy cheeks, no red tooth marks, nothing. Just a wet and slobbered up terrified baby. Poor dog ended up in the basement for the rest of the party.

Comment by Huh? Tuesday, Aug 27, 19 @ 4:15 am