Tarantulantics
The highest use of a remote-controlled tarantula has to be torturing a Boston terrier. Leave it to Liam to figure that out. I could buy these things and repackage them as the ultimate Boston terrier plaything, with a photo of Chet Baker rolling his eyes at it, and make a fortune. Of course if the dog gets ahold of it, it's all over. But Chet isn't about to touch this creepy thing.
I wish I were hep enough to post video and a soundtrack of Baker's interactions with this toy. He gives his low, rolling wooo wooo wooo call (it can't really be called a howl) and some short, muffled little groans and barks. There's much skittering of toenails on linoleum and scrabbling backward whenever the spider heads his way.
Liam is incredibly good at directing the spider so it seems to have intent and purpose, and that spooks Chet. Liam gets such a kick out of poor Baker's befuddledness, and the other part of the soundtrack is the music of his and Phoebe's giggles.
When we laugh, Chet gets tickled and bounces around like a hobby horse, rolling those eyes. Note position of his little tail--straight out. It takes a lot of excitement to get Chet's tail to stick straight out. It's a pathetic excuse for a tail, crooked and naturally stumpy, barely waggable. It earned him the unfortunate but persistent moniker "Tennessee Turd-Tail," abbreviated to TTT in polite company. If you wonder why Chet's face is so expressive, you have only to look at his tail. Robbed of a normal dog's waving social flag, he compensates the best way he can.
posted by Julie Zickefoose @ 11:47 PM
11 comments
11 Comments:
OH, my God, I am screaming! It's too late tonight for this! Julie, you make us howl with your Chet. Liam is having a blast, too. I need to find a toy that my dogs won't touch and enjoy so much. Reference the BT tails that are so useless... they don't need them. BT's wag their whole bodies with glee, right? :)
Love that first picture, with both of your beautiful boys intently watching the remote-controlled spider. That game must be a hoot! Congrats to Liam for figuring out a new way to play with it.
Poor, poor Chetty... Doesn't know whether to play with the spider, run away from it, or stay and protect his boy. No wonder he's conflicted.
~Kathi
I'm screaming here too. OMG!!! Chet's expressions are cracking me up.
We have an old wind-up mechanical "spider" (anatomically incorrect with only two legs, but oh well...) that occasionally makes a trip across the floor, causing the same conflicted interest / caution in dogs who have witnessed it. We've yet to break it out for Jack and Robin, though I may now be inspired by Chet's adventure.
Jack and Robin also want to sympathize with Chet on the tail issue and say that size doesn't matter... stubby tails still wag quite well. Theirs go from intermittent-wag (just like car wipers) to speed-wag (when food is near)despite being less than 2 inches long.
Well that was the funniest post ever! I almost spit my morning coffee out when it opened! I HAVE GOT TO HAVE ONE OF THOSE SPIDERS!!! What better torture for an inquisitive BT? After three of the four Christmas goodies I bought for my four legged children ending up in tatters and polyfill puffs across my floors this would be the one thing that would give me the sense of revenge for having to run my vacuum not once but twice in a 30 minute time period on Christmas Day. Chet expressions are the best and your new camera really catches them at their finest! Thanks for the early morning belly laugh! What a great way to start the day.
With Liam’s mischievous personality you had to know he would come up with something like this.
I could see him sneaking it up on his sister, giggling all the way.
Absolutely charming and hilarious post.
Poor C.B.
My son Sam got a remote control car that he has been teasing our dog Suki with in the same manner. I laugh especially hard when she tries to back up quickly, nails scraping and slipping against the floor. I love how he creates new ways to play with the dog. You know, Sam even got the same shirt from the Gap for Christmas!
Heather
Wayne, PA
Hmmmm. My son's birthday is coming up. Must. Find. Remote. Control. Tarantula. Love that!
Oh my - that is too funny!!! What a cool spider.
Nice try, Julie.
Do you think we were born yesterday?
Since most of the apparent movement between photos takes place by Chet, it is quite obvious that he has had a chip implanted in him and Liam is actually controlling Chet with the remote.
I will promise not to spill the beans about this as long as you promise not to tell Swamette where she can buy such a chip and remote.
What a hoot! Kudos to the person that thought of a RC spider as a gift for Liam.
Off-topic: Had to write your dear husband today and apologize for messing up his name. I was talking about his blog in a wild bird store today, and referred to him as Bill Zickefoose. Realized my mistake as soon as I said it, and corrected myself immediately, but I'm feeling bad, so I had to "out" myself in order to be publicly humilated as my pennance.
~Kathi, ready to take whatever punishment is dished out
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