The Dog(s)

i'm a big fan of dogs, especially my dogs.

Though we usually had a dog when i was growing up, i'd never had one in my adult life until 2008, when my then-girlfriend talked me into getting...

Baako, Rhodesian Ridgeback extraordinaire. Always, and without exception, a Good Boy, he died at the age of 10.5 due to complications involving a hernia and is sorely missed.

During that time, Baako's mama and i had stopped being a couple but remained house-mates for many years. After Baako died we swore never to put ourselves through the torture of losing another dog, and yet...

In 2019 we babysat a neighbor's Havanese dog for a weekend and quickly came to the conclusion that we wanted one too. So...

We added Nomy, Havanese extraordinaire, to our household.

At some point it became clear that keeping such an energetic dog entertained full-time required yet another energetic dog, so we doubled-down and...

Adopted Nala, Nomy's full-blooded younger sister, in 2020. Aside from being siblings with the typical goodness shared by all Havanese, Nomy and Nala are as different as night and day, from the texture of their fur to their personalities. It turns out that Nala is more fixated on her mama and papa than her sister, so (like many of us) does not really fill her intended role. Sigh.

In 2022 their mama left southern Germany to move back to her hometown, taking The Dogs with her, during which time i only rarely got to see them. After three-odd years of playing single mom, she needed a break and passed them back to Mrs. Beal and myself, so...

As of April, 2026, the four of us now live together in a tiny flat on the far edge of Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany, not quite a block away from a forest where the dogs go walking every day. Three times. Every day. Every. Day.

The ongoing adventures of Nomy and Nala can be followed in their photo album.