Just A Little Dog named Hemingway

Yep, we named him Hemingway. Early on we shortened it to “Hemmie” and that’s who he is. B’s daughter, Jill, suggested it to us, and it fit.

Our Hemmie is five years old. He’s a male Shih Tzu, And no, not Shit-Sue. It’s pronounced She-Soo. It’s a Chinese name for this breed, roughly meaning “Little Lion.” And in that regard, it fits perfectly, for he can be as ferocious as he is loving.

Whether the breed was developed in China or in Tibet is not known, but Tibet certainly lays claim to them. The first of its breed was brought to England in 1928, and they found their way to America after WW II. But enough about all that. What we’re interested in here is how this little fella became a full-fledged family member, and why we’ve come to love him so.

The pictures of him that we have collected over the last 5 years tell his story far better than I ever could, so this episode will be more of a picture book. I’ve been able to resist putting captions under the pics, thinking you might well have your own. You will get to know Hemmie much as we do, and believe me, the little rascal is well worth knowing.

He is a loving little scamp… very hard-headed about certain things, very loving and needy about others – like being left alone, or even being ignored when he whines a little for something. When it’s bedtime, he curls up with “Mom” for a few minutes of cuddling before we take him to his pen. In the morning and evening he loves to be held and cuddled and petted, during the day he gets independent and pretends that he doesn’t need any love or attention.

He has an excellent memory, and at any sign of a daily pattern, he remembers it every day, at the approximate time that a thing happened, and he makes it obvious that he expects that thing to happen again. And if it’s playing with him or anything like that, he’ll force the action, if he can.

There is definitely a “Little Lion’ within him. He has a little brown dog toy that we named Ernie. Nearly every afternoon Hemmie drags poor Ernie out of his pen (where Ernie sleeps with him every night) and shakes him viciously, growling, wanting us to throw Ernie so he can go get him and drag him around the house. There is ferociousness lurking inside that little guy, a purity of ancient survival that is fun to watch.

The Ernie Fight

And he has moods, just like we do. Sometimes he just lies around somewhere and looks at us, either with curiosity, disappointment or even disgust. You have to wonder what’s going on in that little mind. We know he loves music, for when I play, or when anyone plays or sings, he comes right over and listens. I keep waiting for him to request something…

He’s a great little traveler, lying in his bed in the. back seat of either car, sometimes much of the day. The only time he squeaks is when we pull into a bank teller or the ferry ticket booth… then he whines because he remembers he sometimes gets a treat there.

Do I give him too much credit for having these wonderful human-like traits? Oh hell no! I think we’re more likely to underestimate how sharp, how intuitive he really is. He understands, as many dogs do, a lot of our words. Certain word phrases will send him scooting to where he knows the action is going to be. When he’s occasionally wrong, and we tell him things like, “We’re not doing that right now, Hemmie,” he looks at us like we’re crazy, with a “Why the hell not?” look. It’s great.

Hemie loves lots of attention, and when he doesn’t get it, here’s what we get…

We have seen him anticipate a person’s arrival here, sometimes two hours in advance. He’ll watch the door and wait. Animals are so intuitive that way. And if one of us is sick or doesn’t feel well, he sits with us and looks up, so concerned.

Yes, he’s definitely one of the family. I think they all know and understand more than we think they do. We know he has a big heart, that he loves us and comes to us for love and security whenever he feels insecure or threatened, which he does from time to time. He’s our funny little guy, and we love him so.