It's Lady and the Tramp All Over Again

There is the prim and proper Lady, Fifth Avenue dog of wealth and privilege, having a spontaneous date out back of an authentic Italian restaurant with junkyard dog Tramp.

The musicians come out to play their mandolins and fiddles. The plate of spaghetti and meatballs arrives. Just one plate. How else do you get two dogs’ a chance for an accidental kiss?

So, when our beloved Gamera was having a blind date with Farmer in the Dell, I had to come up with a way to recreate this romantic scene. A romantic candlelight dinner at an Italian restaurant. How does one top that? There are no authentic Italian restaurants left in our area since Cafe Italiano closed in Colville.

With our Gamera coming into heat, setting up the romance is essential. Jay and I thought about all the standard fares, roses… chocolates (oops, poison for dogs, so nix the chocolates), and a candlelight dinner for two.

Nothing worked.

Gamera just lay on her bed of straw with a thought bubble hovering over her head with the words: “boys are SO IMMATURE!!’

And she wouldn’t be wrong.

So, with an essential breeding imminent, Jay and I discussed options for their romantic time together. i’m a sucker for romance and Jay knows this. He came up with an idea. Love letters! He suggested we help Dell write Gamera a most wonderful love letter!

Better than roses.

Better by far than chocolates.

Better than spaghetti and meatballs (okay, maybe not).

And because Gamera has never seen Lady and the Tramp, she has nothing to compare it to. Dell’s letter would eventually do the job.

Here it is;

To my moonlit enchantress Gamera:

The scent of spring has arrived early, and with it… you!

Your presence dances on the wind like the first thawed river after a long glacial sleep, and I…your humble admirer… am helpless, but to follow your tail, eyes, nose, and ears to the ends of the earth, our hearts pattering with the rhythm of the twinkling stars!

I saw you this morning, standing tall and regal, your silhouette framed by the mist of our forest. My legs… OH, my strong, sturdy legs, trembling and weak like a newborn fawn at the sight of you!

Gamera! My sweet and lovely Gamera!

Do you even know the chaos you bring to my mane? Your almond eyes, that eternal slant of mystery, gaze through me as if I were but a fragile skeleton buried beneath a thousand years of frost.

But I…

I am no fossil!

My darling! I am alive whilst every bone in my body aches for the warmth of your closeness.

Each day, you pass me in silence. You flick your tail as if I am not there.

You turn your nose skyward showing me that I am but an unworthy omega dog.

Though my heart remains but a tattering of torn and scattered scraps left over in our dinner bowls, I see the pause in your step…

…and the paws in your step!

But I. I like any mongrel, was born to win hearts…

Especially your heart of gold.

—Your Dell.

Last night, I read the letter to Gamera. I was hoping this would instill the romantic feelings I certainly would have felt if Jay had written such a letter to me.

Yet still, our lovely Gamera, lay with her nose in the straw of her bed, still muttering those words, “Boys are SO IMMATURE!”

We’ll give her some time. And in a few days, maybe offer a plate of spaghetti and meatballs.

In reality, Gamera has just started her heat and she and Dell are in the same pen. I will keep you pupdated on their breeding in the coming weeks and let you know when their litter is confirmed.

If you want to know more about the Legend Litter, go to:

https://direwolfdogs.com/litters/69/

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Jennifer Stoeckl is the co-founder of the Dire Wolf Project, founder of the DireWolf Guardians American Dirus Dog Training Program, and owner/operator of DireWolf Dogs of Vallecito. She lives in the beautiful inland northwest among the Ponderosa pine forests with her pack of American Dirus dogs.