Saturday, December 22, 2007

Waiting for Dogot

I know I shouldn't be jinxing it like this...but tomorrow, she will come.

30 comments:

Reading the Signs said...

You are getting a dog? This one? I want one too, but it is impossible. So I must get the experience vicariously.

Anna MR said...

Hei Signs, yes and yes. This one. She should be arriving tomorrow early evening. Fear not, I am fairly certain there'll be regular updates for your vicarious needs.

I haven't had a dog for eleven years. To say I am looking forward to the arrival of beautiful Miss Dogot would be understated to say the least.

Anonymous said...

she looks lovable AnnaMR, fully grown? and very gentle.

Anna MR said...

Hei Bindi, thank you, and yes and yes and yes, she is lovable and fully grown and very, very gentle. She is a rescue dog of Estonian origin, about two years old. I am feeling like a kid on the night before Christmas.

Reading the Signs said...

Now I want one even more - yes, one just like this in my Christmas stocking please.

Looking forward to more photos.

Anna MR said...

Ah, Signs - I shall see what I can do with regard to the stocking filler. Joulupukki is my fellow countryman, after all...

nmj said...

...she is beautiful x

Pants said...

Hi Anna

So, unlike a dog, a dogot IS just for Christmas, then? Have a lovely one.

xxx

Pants

Anonymous said...

Oh how beautiful !!
Love her,AnnaMR.........make her as happy as she will you....
Much love to you and to her for the New Year
may you be HAPPY !!xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Anna MR said...

Cyberfriend - a new photo! You are looking very beautiful too (not directly comparing you and the beautiful Miss Dogot, okay? It's just that I'd read your comment already on my mobile earlier and then was surprised to see you looking all new here). Yes, she's very beautiful (but thank you for complimenting her) and she's here. She has an Estonian passport. It's on my desk.

Anna MR said...

Hei Pants (sings) - ♩♫ dogots are forever ♫ ♩(and for Christmas. Having two weeks off helps when settling in a new family member)...

You too, honey, a most merry Christmas to you and, it goes without saying, to Barney.

Anna MR said...

LavenderBlue, girly-whirly, thank you. Apparently, so I was told, people have said of her that she's "ordinary looking" but I think that's a load of twaddle. She is a real beaut, is our beautiful Ms Dogot, and there's nothing ordinary about that.

Obviously (and not only because you compliment my dogot, but thank you), much love and happiness to you for your New Year as well.

Merkin said...

Wolfie the Doggo.
Lovely.

charnel doze said...

Estonia? Can this be Pelastetaan Koirat - the same place I got my crazy cats?

Cusp said...

What a lovely gentle face. I've got an old rescue dog too an dhe's a sweetheart (a whippet) --- when he isn't tearing open all the Xmas presents that contain chocolate !

http://lombredemonombre.blogspot.com/2005/06/new-life-blossoms-and-nourishes.html

Have a lovely Christmas x

Anonymous said...

Beautiful photo. Marry Christmas to you and the doggy!

But Why? said...

Nice looking pooch. What an excellent way to spend Christmas! I look forward to reading all about the trials and tribulations of the new family member.

Merry Christmas xx

Reading the Signs said...

Well - is she there?

Updates, please.

And merry Christmas. Mwah!

Montag said...

Merry Christmas.

The dog has wonderful eyes.

And.....

those shots of the stars in the night sky...the ones taken from your balcony...
Those stellar formations can only exist from the vantage point of the Andromeda galaxy!

more mysteries.

Anna MR said...

First of all, dear commenters and guests - Happy Christmas. Apologies for crap lateness of replies - I spent yesterday mostly cooking (Finns celebrate Christmas Eve as the biggest thing) and today mainly digesting what I cooked yesterday. Hence the above-mentioned crap lateness. Okay, onwards and upwards...

Merkin, she is lovely, no? And I'm glad you could see she looks like a wolf. She does, you know. Other dog people in the area ask me about her and I say she is an Estonian wolfhound. Sometimes, anyway. At others I tell the truth (some laika, some unknown genetic matter) (who's to say, maybe some wolf, too).

Hei Charnel, hyvää joulua. No, she is from Rekku-Rescue (do note we have renamed her, okay?). A similar organisation, though, no doubt.

Hello Cusp, nice to see you. Lovely to know you have a rescue dog as well, I'll pop over and take a look at your link in a while. Miss Dogot is still too shy to be tearing anything at all, but we'll see how long that lasts. It can, apparently, take up to six months for a rescue dog to allow their inner dog character to shine through, so she may turn out to be a chocolate thief deep down.

housut, hei. Thank you - I really like this shot of her, too. I took it when we first went to see her - she was in a "foster home" over here by then, I didn't go to pick her up from the Estonian dog pound (where she'd spent six months). I think her gentle, intelligent, and slightly sad nature shows through in the picture. Mind you, and as I said to Cusp above, she may yet turn out to be other things too, including happy - as I of course hope her to.

Hei Tri Mutta, yes, it is a very lovely thing to be doing at Christmas, getting to know one's new family member. She is currently asleep and dog-dreaming on my bed - yes I know this shouldn't be allowed, but I don't have a sofa and I don't let her in the bed, only on it. So far, she has pretended not to realise the difference only once every evening, and has understood a click of the fingers very well. My Estonian is very poor, not to say nonexistent (I can say "Kaskus on mun hoputin?", "Where is my horse?" - useful in it's way, but she may not know the answer, and even if she does, it doesn't help with the bed/sofa issue), although it is the language most closely related to Finnish, so we have to hope she has a head for languages.

Signs, yarr, she's here alright. She's been here since Saturday night. She is lovely and eager to learn, considering the language barrier issue we have (as well as her patchy past of various traumatic events), but she has not a clue about playing, for instance, poor thing. She can play with other dogs, but she only looked at us in embarrassed confusion when we tried to get her to play with a pully-rope toy we'd got her. She clearly didn't know what was expected of her (the same goes for the first time my younger son broke into a run with her - she had no idea), but happily, she is now beginning to get a faint impression. This may be because she has a (human) family member who's prepared to take the said rope toy in his mouth and jump about on his hands and knees, shaking the thing from side to side (yes, this would be the same son) (actually, I don't know why I haven't youtubed that yet). So far, so good, and I am totally loving having her - I've waited for a dog for eleven years, Signs. Actually, you're suitably nutty that I can tell you this without fear of you getting the nice men in white coats to bring me a pretty coat of my own, of the style with the tie-behind-your-back sleeves - but ever since I spotted her on the rescue people's website, I started to have a feeling of her walking with me. So I think we're a match meant to be, really. She sends you her mwahs, as do I (mine), of course.

Why Montag, how jolly nice to see you. Yes, she does have gorgeous eyes, does she not? And as for Andromeda, well, trust you to spot that. Shhhh, Montag, mum's the word...everyone else here has bought the snowflake line. It takes one [alien] to know one, I suppose.

Okay - as I said earlier on, dear folks all - wishing you peace and happiness and the fulfilment of your hearts' desires. And Merry Christmas to all, and to all, see you soon...

Reading the Signs said...

I am sending dogot fairy blogmother wishes for a happy and play-filled life hereafter. I am suitably nutty to be reading the signs in all this for my own dog-wish thinklings. And the word vers are having a hoot, calling me idjti but I don't care.

Anna MR said...

Signs, my dear. Miss Dogot is too happy to know she has a fairy blogmother, and accepts the play-wishings with a waggly tail.

Needless to say, we are both rooting for you and your dog-wish thinklings, and sticking up our middle paw at the word ver leprechauns (as always).

But Why? said...

Anna,
I feel sure there is a story to be told in your knowledge of Estonian extending to questioning the location of one's horse. Please do tell...

happeningfish said...

you got a dog! i drool with soppy wonderful all-encompassing love!

Anna MR said...

Hei Mutta, you're right, there's always a story. This time, though, it's rather more (or less) dorky than one would hope, as the line is from a dubbed John Wayne film a friend went to see in Estonia. The man swaggered into the saloon, looked around the place like he owned it, and spoke the undying words, which sound totally hilarious in the ears of any Finn. Particularly when spoken by John Wayne.

Damn my honesty, now I wish I'd made something up about the time I was catching werewolves in Hiiumaa

Anna MR said...

Hei Fish, I did. I got a dog. You'll have to meet her soon. She is proving to be not only gorgeous and lovely, but also devilishly difficult to photograph - she'll come and lick my face or insist on having a tummy rub or something when I try to lurk around her with the camera, but there are a handful in my brand-new dog-flavoured flickr set - I tried to link to it here but links in comment sections are proving to be problematic - I just managed one for But Why up there, but yours went all wanky. I will try once more, but if this fails, just navigate to my flickr and admire there.

But Why? said...

Anna,
I see. Good. Well, I think it would sound rather funny in any pair of ears, not only Finnish.

By the way, I took a look at the site you linked to and was intrigued to discover that under the innocent-looking heading of "Tourist Information", there appeared a link entitled "How to come?". This sounded pretty funny to these English ears, so I investigated a little further.

It turns out that my initial suspicions were correct ("Saaremaa Shipping Company is paying attention in servicing clients"). I guess there must be some legal or financial advantages to performing these services in international waters, or have I lost something in translation?

Anna MR said...

Ha. Yes, Mutta my sharp girl, you are right, there's something not quite kosher in all that. However, I shouldn't really say much, because Finns (being to the rest of Scandinavia a bit like the Irish used to be to the UK - like a poorer younger brother to be made fun of) (I believe the "Irish miracle" has now relieved the young Irish of this stigma) (Finns too, to some extent, courtesy of Nokia) - where were we? The Finns have taken it upon themselves to go and get pissed and patronise and generally behave abominally over in Estonia, and I don't want to associate myself with that crowd. So even though their language sounds hilarious to me, I will happily accept the fact they will call me poro (reindeer) for a good reason, and not get into picking apart the funny translation.

I look forward to being awarded my sainthood in short order.

But Why? said...

Anna,
I must congratulate you on your impending sainthood, though I would be pleased if you'd hold off going through the preliminaries (for example, dying) for a while yet so that souls such as myself can continue to read your wonderful writings xx

Anna MR said...

Why Dr Why?, what a lovely thing to say. Yes, the news of my death have been gravely exaggerated and I am now placing my sainthood hopes on you putting your scientific weight behind an application to His Holiness the Pope to grant me special dispensation from dying pre-beatification.

Right. Thank you for the compliment, and fear not - I am not unaware of the fact that you and TPE have been delightful over at the other thread. I will get to you both (and I think Signs is loose and unminded there, too, which will never do) very soon, I hope - just currently my spare time is eaten by a silly something I have undertaken for money (for shame) in (one of) my Clark Kent incarnation(s).

Until then, feel perfectly free to talk here, there, or anywhere where I govern, okay But Mutta? See you soon, and sorry for abandoning you like this for such an age.

x