Tia the dog.

There is a dog staying at the hostel here in Melbourne. By a staying there, I don’t mean it is traveling on its own. It belongs to a guy named….um, er…gee, I don’t remember the guy’s name, but that is not important as the dog is more my friend. A nice mannered, chocolate lab named Tia, which is short for Tia Maria, the liqueur that is close to the color of her fur.

Tia makes her rounds saying hi to everyone and to collect as many pats on the head, ear scratches and back pats she can. A true attention hound but she leaves politely when she senses you are done with her.

Today in the pub (conveniently attached to the hostel) I wandered in to see what all the noise was about. All the Aussies were watching a game called Cricket. Cricket is a game developed by someone in a warm country that has little work. I say that, as many of the matches can last for days! It must make being a season ticket holder a tough endeavor. “Sorry boss, I have to quit as the game has gone into extra innings!”

I am not sure how cricket is actually played but it looks like baseball crossed with lawn bowling and all the fast paced action of curling. In short, it is boring. So I forced myself away from the tube to pet Tia, who was also not enjoying the game. She had a game of her own to play. Beer coaster fetch. She had one of those thick paper/cardboard style coasters in her mouth which she plopped on my lap. I gave it a Frisbee toss and she went after it. We played until the coaster was a mushy pulp of goo.

Now how is that for a typical Aussie dog? It learned to play fetch in a pub!! Man I love this place. I would have a pic of Tia posted but unfortunately my camera was left in Sydney. That is what happens when you pack with little sleep. Tia did promise to email me though….or was that the beer talking?