December, 2020
Maggie is becoming more perfect every day and I couldn't be more pleased or more impressed. She seems to think quite highly of me as well, which shows what a very discerning dog she is. Despite our mutual admiration, we do have one area of conflict. And it's serious.
I am long in the habit of sitting down in the early evening with a drink, a book and some music. For the latter I typically fire up Roku on the TV (because that's where the good speakers are) and tune to a customized Pandora station that I call Nighttime Jazz. It features artists like Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Chet Baker and many more. That's right, I listen to dead people. Almost exclusively. That not withstanding, the problem is that my dog doesn't seem share my love of jazz.
When I was coming up, all the canine experts told us that dogs can't see TV. While that may have been true in those ancient days of sets built around picture tubes, I don't believe it applies to modern flat screens. Because I'm here to tell you that this dog sees everything on the TV, and she's fascinated by much of it. She sees people and follows their movement across the screen and if the camera should zoom in, she backs up as if stunned by it (think of something coming at you in 3-D).
Maggie has yet to find any programs she likes, which only serves to demonstrate her good taste in entertainment (or perhaps my poor taste), but we haven't watched any of the big dog shows yet, which I think might sell her on it. At present, however, she'll walk into the room, take a look at what's on, glance at me with a why-couldn't-God-have-done-better look, then turn tail － literally － and head back to the bedroom. She does this several times in an evening, beginning with the music.
I know jazz is not for everyone and that it can be an acquired taste like scotch, sushi and, for that matter, RV travel. But I don't think she's giving it a fair chance. Some would say that I'm an acquired taste, but if she had passed judgment on me as quickly, she might still be stuck at a shelter.
Having said that, she does appear to enjoy some of the album covers that Pandora displays. But as for the music, she doesn't care much for Miles and she seems to hold Mr. Brubeck in particularly low regard, at times even sneering at his picture on the screen. Now I like Dave, especially the early stuff he did with the great saxophonist Paul Desmond. And Miles is quite simply in a class by himself. How do you tell these titans of the genre that their music doesn't appeal to a dog?
Well, everyone's entitled to an opinion, and at the end of the day (so to speak) it's probably not worth worrying about since those guys are all, you know, dead.
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