Last week a friend from Massachusetts sent me a cartoon, “Soviet Space Dogs — A Tribute to Canine Cosmonauts (by Scott Beale; see a portion of the cartoon at right). I had totally forgotten about that period during the 1950s and ’60s when the Russians used dogs for space flights, to see how it eventually might go for humans. Whenever I hear about dogs doing amazing things, I always picture Ricky in their place, and wonder how he’d do.
As part of their training (I learned all this from Wikipedia, of course), the dogs were required to stand still for long periods of time. Ricky’s good at this; he’ll stand in the kitchen forever, head up, watching Luz cook, hoping, hoping for something to fall his way . . . I also read that dogs that flew in orbit were fed a nutritious, jelly-like
protein. Food is a major interest of Ricky’s, so he’d be fine with this, though he’d probably prefer his venison to the jelly-like protein, if given the choice. But I also learned that as part of their training the dogs were confined in small boxes for 15-to-20 days at a time. I don’t even want to think of Ricky in that situation, so let’s just say that would be in the minus column. And the dogs had to wear acrylic glass bubble helmets. Since Ricky balks at putting on the plastic cone the vet sometimes makes him wear, this would clearly be a non-starter.
All things considered, I’m thinking the Russian cosmonaut gig isn’t a really good fit for Ricky. He’d be better suited for other job opportunities — like sniffing for contraband at international airports with the Beagle Brigade.
I’ll start helping him with his resume.
I think Nolan’s dream job would be a therapy dog at hospitals even though he is a crazy man. I am sure the kids would still love him
Excellent idea! That would suit Nolan well. You should start working on his resume, too.