Dinner with the Dogs

I wasn’t quite sure what sort of hosts my Jake and Dylan would be for Velvet’s Sammy and Thora who came along to dinner. But dogs are pack animals and after a few introductory barks they fit right in and mostly moved as a group.

I have seldom seen Jake so alive. I think he panted for the entire 3 hours they were here. At one point he was just about to mount Sammy and then thought better of it, letting Sammy, the smallest of the 4, be the alpha dog.

Dylan, who is moving pretty slowly these days, was up and around the whole evening. He politely didn’t try to hump either of the guest dogs, probably because he prefers blonds – golden retrievers if possible.

At one point they all made a field trip into the back yard to explore. I think even Dylan went down the steps. A mystery dog pooped on the family room floor and another threw up on that poor abused floor. Probably both courtesy of Dylan. But other than that, nothing unwanted left behind.


The only point I worried about a dog fight was when a piece of pear landed on the rug and all 4 dogs wanted to claim it. Then they realized that it wasn’t even worth a growl. The interesting thing is that Reya has just mentioned the word "dogfight" in another context when the pear incident happened. I was reminded just how vicious 4 dogs can sound.

Maybe we’ll have to make more trips to the dog park. Dylan and Jake really enjoyed their company.

Meanwhile, my husband got to meet Velvet, whom we all affectionately termed a "Blog rock star." And Reya entertained everyone with her take on life, which is always unique. Dinner was simply comfort foods: a garlicky spinach tomato soup, wild mushroom risotto, mixed green salad, and poached pears on homemade graham crackers with marscapone. And of course, lots of white wine.

A good evening for all 24 legs in attendance...