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Michele Miles Gardiner's avatar

I love that Us Magazine published this piece of true journalism. Really. This is interesting. What's it like to live like my dogs? Like this.

Wait, so your new neighbor threatened to spray you and your four-legged cohorts, and you simply continued on? Well, that scene makes me happy. This whole piece is fun.

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Merrill Markoe's avatar

Dogs dont take a lot personally. That was my thought at the time. THough I have seen some nervous resentment from my current dogs in terms of who is doing what when,

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Cynthia Carle's avatar

This is PWF. Partner Waking Funny. (That's the first acronym I ever made up. I feel pretty good.)

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Amy's avatar

One more comment - one of our weimaraners was given to us by the artist and photographer Bill Wegman. By the time we met him he had at least three and sometimes four or more Weims running around his home in Manhattan, a former garage which still had the elevator ( useful for a 20x24 large format Polaroid camera) and a large outdoor area of multi level decks- good for running. The highlight was the bed: a super king size for him and his wife with an extension above the pillows - all of his dogs liked sleeping above Mr and Mrs Wegman’s heads. True!

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Merrill Markoe's avatar

What a wacky idea for a sleeping arrangement but I love it. Wish I could have seen that. Are there any photos?

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Amy's avatar

Have to ask Mr Krakow- he apent more time in the house than I did. But I also think there’s a public photo in the NYT- I’ll do some searching and get back

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Merrill Markoe's avatar

I did a small search. And only learned that Wegman has designed a few dog bed fabrics.

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Amy's avatar

Did search and learned that Wegman has listed the house in October - all of the pix are still online as it hasn’t yet sold (245 west 18 st) but the interior of the house was pretty much totally redone since we were last inside . The Husband described the bed as 7 feet long and the dogs would sleep above the pillows ( picture that!), he only has one Weimaraner now

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Amy's avatar

Yes he did … but I promise to continue looking and also to have the hub write a full description if he has no photos

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Amy's avatar

I haven’t been reading much lately due to my slipping and sliding and falling during Jan 16th’s ice storm in NYC. I fell on my hip, looked and my strangely twisted leg and said to the four men gathered around me “ my hip is broken “ and it was and an ambulance rescued me and the next day I had hip replacement surgery.

So when I saw DOG DIARIES I knew I hit pay dirt! Laughs! Woofs! More laughs!

I was and still am totally rewarded - my first real laughs in almost two weeks!

Thank you Merrill- there is nothing like being “Leader of the Pack” - unless of course one of your next canines has Weimaraner genetics.

Weimaraners think they are human - or at least part of the human pack and so they refuse to sleep anywhere except on the bed next to or on the heads of the humans or on a couch or chair or wherever the humans recline. They open doors, including the refrigerator because they saw the humans do it. Sometimes they lapse - they too love garbage, and rolling around on their backs in the grass- especially if a 🦌 has just soiled that same spot.

In all my years of owning Weimaraners, I think I only saw one sleep on the floor. That’s because they all had their own dog crates which always remained open so if they wanted privacy they had their own room. But not us!

So your piece has made me feel better than I have I weeks, I thank you for your brilliance and hope that you will at somewhere point adopt a dog with Weimaraner in its history

Then you can always sleep on the bed. Just hope it’s large enough for everyone !! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

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Merrill Markoe's avatar

All my dogs are welcome on the bed....but they have a variety of feelings about it. Of my two right now...one comes up when he is cold or wants some affection. The other one likes to sleep alone in another room. I'm sorry to hear about your fall. THat must have been horrifying. That said...I had a double hip replacement. Both at the same time. No fall. Just no more cartilege.And it was a huge success. By the end of the month I was back at the gym. They really now how to do hip replacements these days. So I predict good results for you when you finally heal from the fall. Be careful out there. Get some skid proof shoes. Maybe look in the Patagonia catalog. THey even sell shoes for ice camping. THey gotta have pretty good treads.

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Amy's avatar

You had both one at the same time? WOW!! But I'm so delighted to know that you were back at the gym by the end of the month! MY in home PT has one more week, and then I'm off to out patient PT. But it's two weeks and I'm walking with a cane around the house, the walker when I want to walk around the building.

Thank you for the Patagonia tip... I really want boots/shoes with ice picks... or maybe I'll just stay in. But then again, if Kareem Abdul-Jabaar could fall and break his hip as he was walking onstage to present Manhattan Transfer with several honors at their final concert in LA about 5 or so weeks ago, well, my klutz-i-ness at least had ice! But back to the dogs...The Weimaraners never, ever slept alone at night. Sometimes they'd nap alone, but at night they had to be with their humans - and it's part of the breed. they're velcro dogs. ;-) thank you for all~ !!

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Amy's avatar

And sorry for the typos !

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Wendy's avatar

Stan! He used to write poetry, no?

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Merrill Markoe's avatar

Yes, he did! I think you can find it on You Tube. That people liked that piece was one of my proudest moments.

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Immelda's avatar

This cheered me up - against my will! Thanks, you're a genius. As we know.

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Merrill Markoe's avatar

awww. Thank you so much.

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Woke Marxist Pope's avatar

I’m a puddle after this

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Mavis Jukes's avatar

The funniest lady: you.

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Merrill Markoe's avatar

Thank you Jukesy! The most soulful lady:You.

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brian m's avatar

I just love the dog diaries. a new perspective! Thank you 😊

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Heidi Becker's avatar

That is so funny you mention Brillo pads. Years earlier my friend Byron had a golden, Maggie. We left her at the house for several hours and when we returned there was Maggie looking up at us, a rim of blue soap surrounding her lips and the box of Brillo all in shreds around the house! Love your writing Merrill.

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Merrill Markoe's avatar

Thank you so much. Yeah---brillo. Very funny. But also scary. I mean....that's steel wool! I had a dog (Bob) who are Christmas ornaments one year. Amusing but also YIKES. Not a good way to celebrate Christmas.

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Patty Mooney's avatar

Adorbs!

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Merrill Markoe's avatar

No one has ever said that to me before. A first!

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Patty Mooney's avatar

I was first smitten with the word when Merriam-Webster added it to the dictionary in 2018..... https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/39024960/adorbs-is-now-a-word-in-the-dictionary-along-with-some-others-you-might-not-expect/

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Chris Stanton's avatar

I think this appeared in “What the Dogs Have Taught Me,” which I excitedly purchased as soon as it came out. I could go upstairs and grab the book to see if I’m right, but I’m currently lying on the floor with my dog and neither of us wants to move. We both thank you for your dedication to the canine sciences.

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Merrill Markoe's avatar

Yes. It did appear in that book. Thank you for buying it! I should see about starting a canine sciences department at Oxford.

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Heidi Becker's avatar

Definitely yikes! Possibly due to shiny object syndrome. And of course Why a box of Brillo pads?

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Merrill Markoe's avatar

Why indeed. I have no answers. I just call em as I see em. And in 1984 when I wrote this, that's what I saw.

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