Living with a Bitch

Sweet Pea, poor old girl, is in heat. They told me when I adopted her that she hadn't been sterilized but that she was considered too old for the operation. She is now sticking her butt with her tail straight up into the face of any dog that comes along. It's embarrassing! I have to be vigilant that nothing comes of it. One old pooch moved really fast! That was Teresa’s dog, Rubio, a senior she rescued who was once probably a hunting dog and who is now lame. Sweet Pea is in heat and love is in the air.

I wrote that to a friend a few weeks ago in the middle of this upsetting time which, now, thank God, is over. Bitches, it seems, are never too old to have their periods, and in many cases, as in the case with Sweet Pea, each time it lasts for a good four weeks.

The little girl is a sprite with lots of energy. In heat she’s superdog. Or should I say superbitch? I made the mistake of taking her out for one of our country walks so she could get some exercise, and let her off the leash when we were on the path. She was fine on the way out, but when I turned around to go back, she ran ahead and never stopped! I was afraid she would get to the end and run out into the road. She wouldn’t come when I called her, and I couldn’t go fast enough to catch her! But thank goodness, she happened to find a male dog along the way and stopped to stick her butt into his face. If not, I don’t know what would have happened.

I have trouble referring to Sweet Pea as a bitch. I mean, it just doesn’t sound nice. In Catalan it’s nicer. Dog is “gos” and a female dog is “gossa.” A small dog is “gosset” and a small female dog is “gosseta.” It’s all very sweet. When you curse at someone, you don’t call them a female dog, you call them the son of a whore or “cabron,” a goat. A male goat.