Tessa
Trip Start
Oct 25, 2007
1
57
61
Trip End
May 15, 2008
Cologne, Germany
Friday, April 4, 2008
Since it tends to be warm inside our apartment, I had the window to the patio cracked open a bit. Because of the way our apartment is set up, we have to climb up and out through the window to get to our patio (it is a very strange set up because the rest of the apartments in our building all have balconies). Still recovering from shock, I began to panic when I noticed that the dog was nudging the window with its snout. With every push of its nose, the window opened further and further. It was trying to come inside.
Fairly certain that we were going to have a guest in our living room (friendly or not), I knew I had to close the window before it had a chance to climb in. As I cautiously walked over to the window, my heart began to race. I was taking a huge risk approaching such a big dog and all I kept thinking was, "Andee, this is a really bad idea!"
As I approached the window, I noticed that the dog was drooling quite heavily. Convinced that I was already on the menu for its next snack, I wasn't sure what to do next. Somehow I mustered up enough courage to reach for the handle on the window. While I was doing this, I began talking to the dog like I do with our dogs back home. In a very calm and soothing voice I said, "Hello, how are you?" The dog swayed its head sideways as if it actually understood me. Certain that it wasn't going to eat me anymore, I reached out to let it sniff my hand. As I began scratching its chin, I saw a huge black collar around its neck with a studded nametag that read, "Tessa". I released a huge sigh of relief. Afterall, how many ferocious dogs do you know named Tessa?
Realizing that Tessa was a female made me feel so much better because female dogs tend to be much more mild-mannered than males. As I stood there scratching her chin and talking to her, she stared at me curiously...probably wondering what I was saying. I'm sure she was confused as to why I was talking to her in the first place but she seemed to enjoy it as her ears perked up whenever the inflection in my voice changed. Feeling fortunate that our encounter was positive thus far, I said goodbye after a minute or two and closed the window. She nudged at it a few more times before she finally turned and walked away.
Steve came home shortly after she left and when I told him the story, he didn't believe me at first. Certain that I had written one too many blogs and that I was seeing things, he dismissed it until the same thing happened to him a few days later. One night, he was playing poker on the Internet and when he looked up to watch TV, there she was...staring at him through the window! The next morning when I got up, I noticed that all of the curtains in the living room were closed. Puzzled, I asked him why. He said that Tessa had scared him so bad that he nearly fell off the couch! I laughed as I heard him say, "I closed the curtains so that if she came back later...she wouldn't scare me again!"
When we saw Tessa during the day, she seemed even larger than when we saw her at night. She reminded us both of "Marmaduke" and we gathered that she is more than likely a Great Dane. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that she probably weighs close to 150 lbs. and stands about three feet tall. On hind legs, she would be taller than me! Her paws are the size of my hands and I have no doubt that in one pounce, I would be lunch meat! Aside from her enormous size, she has a great temperament and is probably one of the sweetest dogs I have ever met.
Extremely shy, Tessa is comfortable sniffing your hand but gets timid when you try to pet her too much. Therefore, Steve and I are very careful when she comes around so that we don't scare her away. One time I was sitting on the patio during one of her visits and neither one of us knew the other one was there. When she saw me, she barked. When I saw her, I screamed. She ran away and I spilled coffee all over myself!
Ever since our first encounter with Tessa, we see her almost everyday. She has become our "surrogate" pet since we can't be with our dogs, Morgan and Jack. Of course no one could ever take their place, but it's nice having a dog visit us regularly to remind us of our pals back home. Seeing Tessa has become one of the highlights of my day and Steve enjoys her visits as much as I do. Nothing makes me smile more than hearing Steve say with a grin on his face, "Hey Hon...Guess Who I Saw Today?"
