Chapter 23 (Animals I’ve Known and Loved, cont.)

Rare Dog in More Ways Than One:

The Weimaraner was still a rare dog in the United States back in the sixties, but I somehow think that Kiyoodle would have gotten the same reaction if the breed was common. Even an untrained eye can admire the fine lines of a well bred racehorse. In the same way, this dog’s muscles would ripple under his glistening silver grey coat as he’s trot along the hedgerows near the sidewalk where I would be pushing August in his stroller. A car would come to a sudden stop and the window would wind down as the curious person would lean out and ask me what kind of dog that was. I would tell them, and watch the admiration as they couldn’t take their eyes off the “Grey Ghost” as the Weimaraner was termed.

Kiyoodle never made a mistake once he was housebroken, but there was a time when I wished he had peed in the cellar.

We went to a friend’s small wedding in New Your City, letting Ki’ out to do his stuff before we left him for the afternoon, thinking we’d be back in the evening. We took along August who cried a lot at the reception, so I was looking forward to getting back. I helped Al get the folding carriage into the pinched quarters of the trunk of the car, and put down the car keys in the trunk by the stroller while I pushed and shoved it into position. Al asked if it was all set. I said yes, meaning the stroller was all set, and before I picked the keys up again, he slammed the trunk shut. With the keys locked inside.

After trying to get into the trunk, through the back seat--impossible, and having to call the police who usually have a master set of keys--but not this time--we had to give up and find another way to get home. We borrowed a friend’s car who said something about a problem with its low gear. We unfortunately found out what the problem was when we stopped to pay the toll crossing the George Washington Bridge, and were stuck in first gear from the Teaneck New Jersey side to 34th street, where we were going to leave it at Brew’s Bar.

We hadn’t planned on having to stay over night, and hoped that Jimmy Woo who was the usual bartender was there, but no… so we couldn’t get a check cashed. We had to find a really cheap hotel, and there was one with a little ill repute attached to its reputation, but it was the next block down, and it fit the bill, money-wise. Al went in first to get a room, laving me and the baby out in the one-geared car. The man behind the desk laughed when Al insisted he needed a cheap room for his family for the night, but almost dropped his cigar when Al brought in me carrying the baby in the portable bassinette.

The room was clean enough, and had some clean cotton towels. I had to use one as a diaper, seeing I wasn’t prepared to stay overnight. We didn’t get mugged or catch a disease using the communal bathroom down the hall, and early the next morning we used our last few dollars for the train trip home. I was very worried about Kiyoodle. I heard later on that he had howled all night from loneliness. And when I let him out to relieve himself, he lifted his leg for such a long pee, that he had to rest the leg he was lifting twice before he was through… and there was NO wetness nor mess in the cellar of the house where we had left him… poor thing. He had gone almost 24 hours without going to the bathroom. It was the only time I wished a dog had peed and pooped in the house.