Hannibal

above photo from the Becky Shannon collection

This little guy is the "furry" love of my life. I mean no disrespect for Hookey, he was a great dog and I still miss him today. But, Hannibal, is something else. I mean, really. Look at that face.

He is, by far, the smartest dog I've ever known, and I have known quite a few. He understands every word I say. If I mention any of my nieces or nephews names, he goes to the door anticipating their arrival or our departure to go see them. Forget if I say "Roni", as he knows she has the car and means that, most likely, he will be going for a ride as well as seeing one of his favorites!

As for the car, he loves to be driven around and is not happy to be left home when I leave in it. This past year, he and I have been together more than in previous years, so his attachment to me has, at times, become almost annoying. But I am his world as he is mine and there is no one I'd rather spend time with and I tend to take him most places.

Besides a ride in the car, the other thing that he enjoys most is to run free. In the 5 months since we moved to this apartment he hasn't (until today) escaped out of the house. I was talking to my neighbor and held the door open a little too much for him to ignore. So, off he went. After a quick (and this is a very fast dog) run around the yard into the river he went. JoAnn and I were following him and trying to grab him, but he is too small, fast and cagey. Finally after about 10 minutes, and with another neighbor joining in, Joann grabbed him - across the street!! - and I snapped the leash on him. He's still wet and is now on punishment. Punishment means he gets no loving and he's not happy when I'm ignoring him, but I'd be much more unhappy if anything happened to him, so he'll stay on punishment until I can't take it anymore and need a kiss from him.

He also likes to eat just about anything, except for pickles and celery. When we lived in EG, he would go into the neighbors house and steal apples out of their fruit bowl. Then he'd carry them back to my yard and lay there chewing away. He also brought from next door the following: a new roll of film, a pair of dirty socks, a paint roller, their newspaper (many times, and he would shake and shred it all over the front yard) as well as lots of other items that I had no idea as to where he found them. I got him on October 21, 2001 at 8 weeks of age and that first winter, he caught and ate!! two mice. Because he ran around with Jackson so much early on, he thought he was a springer spaniel as Jackson is, so he still chases and barks at birds. Jackson, who I called "The Blur" because he is white and unbelievably fast, taught Hannibal how to run which is where he got his quickness. They had a great time together and Hannibal misses his friend.

In Wickford, he would wait for Paul to come over and he had his own "Paul" bark, so that when I was in the house, I knew when Paul was in the back walking over to say hello to Hannibal. One day while Paul was standing there Hannibal jumped so high in front of Paul that he was able to catch him and hold him out and up at eye level. We had quite a few laughs over that one.

Another time, as Paul and I were sitting on the grass with Hannibal watching the Blue Angels fly over, one flew so low that Hannibal jumped up as if to catch it. We laughed at that one too. We both miss our friend Paul.

Each night when we get ready for bed, I break a couple of milkbone treats up into pieces and put him through his paces. Sit, lay down, say please, paw, other paw, high four and so on. He's so enthusiastic that sometimes he just does everything while he's sitting there waiting for me. Cracks me up.

So, after a bath tonight (I didn't realize how gross the river is), he's back in my good graces, we're sharing a hot dog. Mine with mustard and his with his Lyme Disease antibiotic (sigh) pills stuffed inside.