Rocky's Change of Heart

On July 13, I wrote about Rocky, my German Shepherd Dog puppy, and how he spoke to me out loud in English.

"As I prepared to leave with Jessie tonight for her positive reinforcement class, I realized I would have to crate Rocky. He is so hyper and I knew he'd be so strung out from Jessie leaving that he would be better off sitting safely in his crate. As I locked him up, he howled in a tortured, high-pitched voice. It's hard to translate into the written word, but it sounded something like 'i row ruh oo, i row ruh oo, i row ruh oo!' and became more and more high pitched until the words became clear, "I doan luh yoo, I doan luh yoo, I doan luh you" over and over as if to scold me for leaving."

Well, today I had to crate Rocky, and his sister Jessie, and Felix, the Schipperke, while I went inside because I had all sorts of papers I was filing on the table and Rocky, in the last few days, has taken to jumping on the table! At the coercion of Felix, he then tosses down items for Felix to shred. Felix, of course, being a cat-fox-dog-bat creature, can hop on the table any time he pleases. But he finds it more entertaining to send Rocky up there and just finds it fun, in general, to command the other dogs in feats of mischief.

So, not trusting any of them except for Macintosh, I crated them all and headed inside with Mac to download some new tunes before I returned to filing.

That's when Rocky started talking again. The tortured, high-pitched voice...this time had a different message for me--"I luh you...I luh you...I luh you!!!" I smiled and continued in to download some music. What a difference a month can make. We've only had Rocky since Memorial Day weekend, so I don't blame him for not loving me until now.

Later, when we had all gone out for romps and then were back in and I was at my filing again, Rocky came up to me and put his huge head next to mine where I sat and looked at me so earnestly with those bright eyes.

"So, Rocky, you love me now eh?" I asked him. I was answered with a big, sloppy lick that went from my chin to my forehead for an answer.

I kissed him back before I went inside to clean my glasses.

Romulus: The Old Man in the Sea

My name is Romulus and I'm an Asiatic Veiltail Carp or goldfish. I am 13 years old! I could live to be 25!

I am over a foot long now! Most people do not realize how long goldfish can live if they let us.

My human rescued me from a tank full of goldfish meant to be turtle food or food for bigger fishes. She brought me home and added me to her 10 gallon fishtank which was on top of her piano.

Well, I disappointed her bitterly when I killed all of the Angelfish and Swordfish in the tank with me. She wasn't that knowledgeable about fish, otherwise she would have known that I would do this--plus there was just enough room for me in that tank!

However, she admired my strength and beauty and took very good care of me. Each night, she would practice the piano--remember my tank was on top of it--and I would critique her playing. When she would make a mistake, I would thrash angrily and stare viciously at her. So she would try very earnestly to play beautifully. I especially loved Chopin for his flowing notes to which I would stretch my fins and yawn quite widely! I do NOT like Bach though because his music is so choppy, that is more for humans than fish!

Making Waves to Music

At the end of each practice session (some of them lasted eight hours or more), my human would play my own special song she always played just for me. I knew then that she was finished practicing and would wag my tail. Yes! I do! That song was Mozart's "Ah Tutti Contenti," from The Marriage of Figaro.

After five years of being in that tank, I had grown to be nearly six inches long and my human decided to get me a bigger tank. I moved into a 29 gallon tank with large blue gravel which I enjoyed piling into mountains and rearranging every week. My human was now becoming much smarter about fish care--measuring the pH in my tank and adding only distilled water during water changes, which she'd do every month.

Someone to Call My Own

But I was becoming lonely. My human now had two parrots to whom she was paying more attention. She didn't come over as often and pet me (yes, she'd put her hand in the tank and I would swim under her hand for a pet). So she decided to get me a mate. That brought Rhiannon, the egg-shaped goldfish, into my lonely life. Rhiannon grew very quickly and soon was the size of a honeydew melon! We became very chummy but needed more room so we moved again--this time into a 55 gallon tank! Now I'm over a foot long!

I still listen to my human practice the piano when she has time. We have known each other 13 years now and that is a long time for a fish and a human. I know her parrots pretty well too. They like to look at me in the tank and I like to look at them. I'll swim over to near where they're sitting and weÕll stare at each other communicating and exchanging ideas. It's fun!

Taking care of me is a LOT of work and is also expensive. My human has to spend nearly a whole day a month cleaning my tank and measuring ammonia and nitrite levels in my water. She is careful not to use tap water in my tank, which can contain residual chemicals from winter runoff (do you humans really drink that stuff?) which can kill me rather quickly. Actually, once I got tuberculosis from this and my human nursed me through it. Not many fish survive that! She was vigilant though and I made it!

pictured above: Romulus, the goldfish, lived to be 13 years old!