I was assigned the lead story in the animal lover’s magazine, “The Family Pooch.” I didn’t have a dog in mind for the story, so I mentioned it to my colleague who referred me to a friend of hers, Elyse, who had a dog named Rubbles.
 
I was able to reach Elyse and she was thrilled by the idea.  She immediately woofed my intensions to Rubbles and according to Elyse, when Rubbles understood I wanted to specifically profile her for the cover story, Rubbles wildly accepted with non-stop barking. (Indeed I did hear non-stop dog barking in the background.) Elyse said, “You’ll have to excuse her. She’s never had an opportunity like this.” 
  
Arrangements were made for the visit and I met up with Elyse and Rubbles in their country home in upstate New York. We sat in the family living room with Elyse by Rubbles’ side.
 
Rubbles is a beautiful, longhaired cock-a-poo. Her longhair went from golden to vanilla, with a touch of darker brown on both ends of her ears, which added to her charm. Her brown eyes, outlined in black, hid behind curled hair that touched her nose. She wore a red collar around her neck, which was practically lost in her curly locks. She sat up for me, as Elyse explained, “It’s her way of saying how honored she is that you have chosen her for the lead story.” She was so cute!

I was about to ask a question when Rubbles barked and Elyse said, “Yeah, I think so too, Rubbles.” Then, quite suddenly, Rubbles ran into the other room and Elyse ran after her saying, “Hey, wait for me!” I didn’t know what to do, so I sat there and waited.
 
I looked at the waxed hard wood floor and the mauve-colored walls with hanging yellow curtains. The room had a peaceful feeling, which made my thoughts drift off to other places, but I was suddenly interrupted by noises from the other room.
 
I heard barking and Rubbles’ claws sliding across the floor and Elyse saying, “Ouch!” It was a bit puzzling to me at first but then I realized I was missing out on something as excitement was breaking out in the next room. I got up to see what it was.
 
I found them playing tag. Rubbles was wagging her tail and barking enthusiastically going around in circles. I had never heard a dog bark like that; but perhaps it wasn’t so much the bark, as her amount of energy that showed while she barked. Whatever may be the case, she barked and Elyse responded by running to a nearby closet with Rubbles closing in fast behind her.
 
I didn’t realize the walk process was already underway. I was confused by all the excitement caused by both Rubbles and Elyse. They kept running around me, literally running circles around me. And they both barked. They sounded so much alike it was uncanny. If Elyse wasn’t in the human form, I’d swear she was a dog, too.
 
My clue that the walk had already begun was Elyse’s announcement, which I did need since I wasn’t sure if they were just playing or if something more spectacular was about to happen. She spelled out walk, W—A—L—K with such emphasis, I thought Rubbles would spring a leak. Rubbles was overly excited to put it mildly. And oddly enough so was Elyse. Matter of fact, the way Elyse said it and they way both of them reacted, I became quite excited, too. 

Rubbles stood at the closet door and began to whimper. Elyse grinned as she slowly opened the door and said, “Is this what you want? The leash?  Does Rubbles want the leash?” Rubbles barked quite a bit as Elyse took the leash out of the closet and put it on Rubbles.
 
Elyse quickly put on her coat and so did I. Rubbles became so excited seeing us put on our coats, she ran into Elyse, knocking Elyse down a few stairs. I was surprised considering Rubbles is a medium sized dog and Elyse must be at least four times Rubbles’ size in weight. Elyse wasn’t injured, although I thought she was and for a split second all anticipation ceased while both Rubbles and I looked at her. Rubbles was upset and thought the walk would certainly be over, but Elyse patted Rubbles on her head and let her know that she was okay and that the walk would begin.
Rubbles then made a mad dash for the door as the leash dragged behind her. Elyse quickly picked the least up and opened the door; Rubbles raced out, scraping the bottom of the door with her leash as she pulled Elyse along. ”No wonder Rubbles loves to go on walks,” I said to myself, “She gets to walk Elyse.”
 
Elyse had to keep up with Rubbles and I had to keep up with them. Fortunately, Rubbles realized the pressure she placed on Elyse and me. Elyse was not a dog after all and could not keep up regardless of how much training she did.  Rubbles stopped. Both Elyse and I caught our breath. So I asked Rubbles: “Do you always walk Elyse?”

Rubbles wolfed considerably. Elyse laughed. She explained: “Rubbles only walks me. No one else goes. My friends and family don’t want to. They can’t keep up with her pace and they can’t match her excitement.” Elyse looked at Rubbles and said, “Isn’t that right Rubbles?” Rubbles ran over to Elyse, climbed into her lap, barked and licked her face.
 
Our walk resumed. I thought Rubbles was very considerate. She waited until both of us had caught our breath before we continued walking, or should I say, continued running.
   
We waited outside of an animal hole while Rubbles went into a fit of anticipation. She wildly barked, demanding the inhabitants to come forth to the Queen. When they did not appear for her majesty, she went right over to the hole, stuck her head in and barked. It was obvious the Queen was not going to tolerate this! She meant business and they better show themselves!
 
I noticed Elyse was not thrilled by the event. She was glad when the inhabitants didn’t come forward. Rubbles didn’t seem too disappointed as Elyse whispered to me, “She loves to scare the heck out of them. She’s just showing her might.” I was curious to see what creature(s) lived in the hole and what would have happened if the creature had made an appearance. But we moved on.

We stopped in an enclosed area of pine trees, which was another favorite place of theirs. Elyse patted Rubbles’ head and said, “Do you see any birds?” Rubbles immediately began looking up in the trees. Then she started barking, which caused the birds to fly away. ”Good job Rubbles!” Elyse said as Rubbles pushed her face in the little bit of snow on the ground and snorted. Rubbles came up with a face full of snow and her tail wagging. Elyse smiled, “She loves doing that.”

The wind picked up with the setting sun and I noticed Rubbles was shivering. Elyse noticed it, too. Elyse picked up Rubbles, placed her into her coat and zipped it up. Rubbles started to squirm, but Elyse convinced her that it was okay, “I know you’re cold Rubbles, but it’s okay. I have you. Don’t worry. I’ll keep you warm.”

Rubbles started licking Elyse’s face. Elyse said, “Okay, that’s enough Rubbles. You’re getting my face all wet.” But Rubbles continued licking. Then Elyse started laughing, “Okay Rubbles stop the licking; you’re going to lick me away.”

She smiled at me, “Don’t you love the way she thanks me?  I bet you’re jealous.”
   
When we arrived back at the house I was ready to ask the questions I had prepared, but Elyse said, “You better get ring-side seats.  Hurry, the event will take place in the living room.” I just looked at her as she repeated, “Hurry!” I was extremely confused; I had no idea what event she was talking about and what “ringside seats” meant.

I entered the living room where her family introduced themselves. There was her mother and father, sister and brother. I said hello and wanted to know if these were the “ringside seats” I was supposed to sit in. They just looked at me and shrugged their shoulders. Her brother responded, “My other sister must have sent you. Here, you can have this seat.  I think that’s probably the one she meant.”

I sat down and waited. There wasn’t a big turnout for the event other than her family. Why? I don’t think the concept had caught on yet. It’s a pretty revolutionary way of handling an old idea. The human versus the dog in a game of tug-of-war isn’t unique, but the way Elyse and Rubbles play tug-of-war is. This event was the wildest thing I ever saw.

Elyse and Rubbles rushed into the room. Elyse pulled out a rag and Rubbles immediately jumped in the air and snatched it. Elyse called, “Hey, that’s not fair!” But Rubbles growled, Elyse gave in and placed the rag into her mouth as she got down on her hands and knees.
 
There they were. One dog. One human. They faced each other, both on all fours with the rag extended between them, their eyes fixed on the other opponent. They tugged back and forth—both growling—with teeth showing. Rubbles showed her very sharp pointy incisors as Elyse’s teeth showed evenness with only two incisors showing somewhat of sharpness.
 
Rubbles held her rag with her front teeth. Elyse held her rag with her back teeth. Both kept biting more cloth, moving their way closer to each other.  They yanked the rag with both their body weight and teeth as they gained and lost foothold. At one point, Rubbles became too eager to take more cloth and bit Elyse! I sat motionless while I expected Elyse to raise her bloody face up to us, but there was no blood, as Rubbles looked horrified and immediately licked Elyse’s face apologetically.

Elyse said, “It’s okay Rubbles. It’s okay. You didn’t hurt me.” and patted her on the head.
 
It took a lot of convincing on Elyse’s part to get Rubbles to continue playing, but the tug-of-war ensued. Pulling and yanking, growling and snarling, they took more cloth until they came nose to nose with each other. It looked like it was going to be a stale-mate as they stayed in the position for a while with snarling teeth; but suddenly Rubbles sneezed, causing Elyse to release her end making Rubbles the winner!

Rubbles immediately rushed to her dish where Elyse’s Mom had prepared food for Rubbles. Elyse was extremely tired after the day’s event and said that was all the time they had. The interview was over.
   
I thanked Elyse for the wonderful time and told her I would send her a copy of the article. I went to say good-bye to Rubbles, but I immediately stopped. I noticed the peculiar way in which she ate her dog food.
 
Elyse asked, “Is something the matter?”
 
I paused.  “Does Rubbles always eat like that?”
 
Elyse looked over at Rubbles and said, “You mean about the spitting-out of the dog biscuits?”

“Yeah.”
 
Elyse smiled, “Yeah she always does that. I don’t know why my Mom bothers using dry dog food. She never eats it.  But my Mom insists on combining the canned food with dry dog biscuits.”
 
I watched Rubbles pick up a mouthful of dog food, swish it around her mouth and gracefully spit out the un-chewed dry dog biscuits by the side of her dish, just like someone spitting out watermelon seeds onto their plate.

Maybe Rubbles was part human after all.