In so many ways, Elliott is the dog I\u2019d love to have \u2013 as my companion, as my confidant, as my critic. I think he\u2019d be so much fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s a mutt, of course, part Australian Shepherd and a mix of other breeds. There\u2019s possibly some Border Collie in there too I guess, because he\u2019s always so focussed and in the moment. His character is both invention and a mashup of some of the wonderful dogs who have shared their life with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elliott is one of life\u2019s observers. Aware of everything that\u2019s happening, and even of some things that are not so visible to most of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s a bit of a sceptic too. Elliott probably gets that from me. At the same time, he\u2019s an enthusiast in that when he\u2019s given a challenge, he\u2019ll do his best to be brilliant at whatever it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Compared to his former life as Barney with Ian, and the tight-lipped Hilary in country New South Wales, Elliott enjoys the stimulation and demands of his new life. Why? Not only because it pleases Jamie, Penny, Adriana and Paul, but because it gives him a sense of self-worth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the process of working alongside Elliott, I\u2019ve come to understand that dogs need and deserve our respect and to have their own sense of dignity too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elliott\u2019s not afraid to make fun of himself, like his \u201cgangsta\u201d voice when he talks with Jason, the pugilstic Pug, his admirer from Killcare, who thinks Elliott is a Sydney Mobster identity called Mad-Dog<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, I think it\u2019s probably true that pet dogs today are attuned to our multi-media world and take in a lot from what\u2019s on our screens, including dog TV shows. With technology now that allows us to observe and communicate with them remotely, I wonder if dogs like Elliott will learn to answer back, even when they can\u2019t see us. Maybe I\u2019ll delve into stuff like that at some later stage in Elliott\u2019s stories. We both can have fun with that. Yikes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last word: I believe a dog should be referred to as \u201cwho\u201d, and not \u201cthat\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In so many ways, Elliott is the dog I\u2019d love to have \u2013 as my companion, as my confidant, as my critic. I think he\u2019d be so much fun. He\u2019s a mutt, of course, part Australian Shepherd and a mix of other breeds. There\u2019s possibly some Border Collie in there too I guess, because he\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitjamesauthor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitjamesauthor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitjamesauthor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitjamesauthor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitjamesauthor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kitjamesauthor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":319,"href":"https:\/\/kitjamesauthor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316\/revisions\/319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitjamesauthor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitjamesauthor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitjamesauthor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitjamesauthor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}