To dog, or not to dog

Today I got in considerable trouble for transporting rice husks and bamboo twigs in our car. Apparently they leave a residue which sticks to female clothing. It was suggested, with some ferocity, that I vacuum up the residue in all haste. When I went out compliantly with the vacuum cleaner, there was a little dog of the shiba variety standing on the corner.

I squatted down in the regulation 'Approach, Dog!' position, and the woolly little critter ambled up with a very matey look on its face -- up to within just out of reach. After a long period of negotiation, he came up to fingertip range, and started doing 'Paw! Paw!' For a dog, this is getting things in the wrong procedural order, because a bit of stroking definitely comes before 'Paw!', but it was extremely fetching behaviour for all its wrongness, or perhaps because of it.

Clearly, this was once somebody's pet, and obviously it could very quickly become somebody else's pet. I'm quite partial to dogs myself, although there are things about them that are inconvenient. I quickly canvassed opinion on the matter indoors. The missus (who is not partial to dogs in the least) said "We don't need a dog", and then relented saying, "You can keep the dog if you don't want to go back to England in the summer", while the young master noted that the said dog, who was often seen at his school, was renowned for being stupid.

A dog guarding the door looks surprisingly good

Actually, as soon as the dog came within inspection range, I couldn't help noticing that he had a largish tick embedded just under his ear. I hate to be regarded as calculating, but when Jack (as I came to think of him) was taking a familial interest in my vacuuming, I did wonder how much vets charge to remove ticks, and how much a month of dog food costs.

Jack makes himself at home, temporarily unfortunately