Around 1997, I adopted Tommy. Now 14, Tommy is the whelp of two of my sister’s chihuahuas. My mom raised him on a diet of steak and lamb chops and ribs. She carried him around in her arms and he slept next to her swaddled in his own blanket and she would talk to him about life. Coddled like a small human, Tommy is high-maintenance and eventually became a problem dog. A friend of mine writes about Tommy:
Tommy disclosed to me one late night that he was a prince in his former life. And that due to karma "politics", as he put it, he was to be sentenced as a chihuahua for his next go on this earth. He finds solace in being carried around and sleeping on human thrones.
-Mical
When they could no longer take proper care of Tommy, I took him in and it’s been a love-hate relationship for the last eleven years. He limits my mobility and my housing options and stretches my patience with his need to be the boss, but I’m hoping for at least half-a-decade more together with the little stinker.
I took the personality test in Staley Coren’s Why We Love The Dogs We Do: How To Find The Dog That Matches Your Personality and found I had a close match to E. B. White’s score.
White was not a good fit for Consistent Dogs (includes self-contained and home-loving dogs).
"The central personality characteristic of these dogs is their predictability. Whether the dog is timid or pushy, placid or jumpy, its behavior from day to day will be virtually the same regardless of the time or the situation. Although these are accepting dogs that like people (particularly their own family), they will stand up for themselves if pushed too far."
E. B. White with Mimi, one of his 3 dauschunds
Stanley Coren describes Fred as "a large, strong-willed, beer-drinking dog, who, although beloved by his mistress, produced the expected mixed feelings in White." Tommy could have taken a page from Fred; they are both Consistent Dogs.
E. B. White writes about Fred
"For a number of years past I have been agreeably encumbered by a very large and dissolute dachshund named Fred. Of all the dogs whom I have served I’ve never known one who understood so much of what I say or held it in such deep contempt. When I address Fred I never have to raise either my voice or my hopes. He even disobeys me when I instruct him in something that he wants to do. And when I answer his peremptory scratch at the door and hold the door open for him to walk through, he stops in the middle and lights a cigarette, just to hold me up."
"Next to myself [Fred] is the greatest worrier and schemer on the premises and always has too many things on his mind. He not only handles all his own matters but he has a follow-up system by which he checks on all of mine to see that everything is taken care of… He wants to be present in a managerial capacity at every event, no matter how trifling or routine; it makes no difference whether I am dipping a sheep or simply taking a bath myself… His activities and his character constitute an almost uninterrupted annoyance to me, yet he is such an engaging fool that I am quite attached to him, in a half-regretful way. Life without him would be heaven, but I’m afraid it is not what I want."
Coren writes,
"…selecting a dog from a group nominated only one time for your personality type might work out, and you might have a good relationship. However, most people who make this kind of choice find that their association with the dog is often ambiguous, with definite highs and terrible lows. Under these conditions some qualities of the dog will be cherished, and others will be hated.
…E. B. White’s life illustrates that a dog from a breed group mentioned three times… has the potential to be a stellar match – a dog that you remember fondly all your life. …a dog from a once-mentioned breed group has the potential to be loved, but the road to that affection may well be long and rocky."
Coren, Stanley. Why We Love The Dogs We Do: How To Find The Dog That Matches Your Personality. Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1998
