We've had a gorgeous boy Plott Hound at the dog park, who when he first
started coming, hadn't been neutered. He is a pretty wild and crazy dog,
which didn't help much with his standings with Khan, who looked upon him
much like a mean old uncle would, never missing an opportunity to chastise
him (if allowed, that is).

He has since been neutered, but remains wild and crazy, and while Khan is
suspicious of him, he's largely resorted to mumbling under his breath at
him. And then yesterday, he abruptly invited crazy hound to play, which he
accepted with *great* vigor. There was much bumping of chests, and grabbing
of necks and pinning to the ground. It was all good until the young turk
decided that he could hump Khan, which Khan dealt with quite appropriately,
and they went on to two more rounds, each of which I ended before the young
dog would act on his impulses to hump (you could clearly tell what he was
thinking).

It was kind of bitter sweet, actually. On the one hand, Khan hasn't played
like that in a long time. On the other, you could *clearly* tell that he
isn't as dominant a dog physically as he used to be, 'cause there were times
when he got knocked on his ass, and you could tell he was wondering how the
the hell he went from being up on his rear legs to sitting on it. I hope he
continues to play with this dog; I think that keeping up with the young
punks is keeping Khan young.

I told Rajesh all of this yesterday, being wistful about a young Khan. Then
this morning he goes: You know, maybe we should keep Khan *skinny*, maybe
that'll help with his rear end. I was so stunned by the revelation, I
didn't know what to say. I don't know if years of nagging about feeding the
dogs finally got through, or if it was just the story, but I'm glad he's
finally come around.

And of course, I'm willing to bet that Khan is about as skinny as he's ever
been, and the vet's going to tell me that he doesn't need to lose any
weight.

Suja