Une Chienne Anglaise (aka: Our surrealist dog?)
Flashback to 2022-Duffy
Regular Duffywatchers will recall that the summer of ‘22 saw our intrepid heroine plunged into dystopian science fiction, courtesy of an epic operation and recovery therefrom <flashback [right] to Summer of ‘22>. Fortunately, as you know, the operation was a success, and Life at Wrightington Towers eventually got back to normal.
Well. Almost back to normal… <cue: ominous music>
Duffy’s formerly-Troublesome Leg is still a little stiff, especially when it’s cold or she’s moving again after a long sleep,* but she seems generally fine on that front.
*[Hey - who amongst us doesn’t have similar issues as we get older? …Errr… that isn’t just me, right…?]
Flashback to 2021-Duffy
When we returned to the scene of The Injury (i.e. our fabulous local enclosed renta-field-for-your-dog) just before the start of this term, she was no longer zoomie-ing, across its glorious 2 acres, as used to be her wont. And alas, she’s under vet’s orders and can no longer jump <flashback [left] to The Jumpy Summer of ‘21>, chase balls or frisbees…
…but she can still give a football a jolly good seeing-to, even without needing to execute the canine equivalent of exciting handbrake turns.
She thoroughly enjoyed an extended period of unleashed sniffing, doggedly mithering us for tidbits from our picnic…
…and generally having a good old time of things.
End result: One contentedly exhausted lurcher, with all four limbs still as they should be. Result!
Unfortunately, however, Duffy’s already-entrenched anxieties have clearly been troubling her still more over the last year or so. She’s become increasingly upset by the Sky Gods (aka low-flying military aircraft training, loud rain, and even, recently, a gentle summer’s breeze which happens to be going in the wrong direction).
Several of you on this term’s courses have commented that she’s rarely in her wonted behind-Robert station during “broadcasts” from Wrightington Towers. It’s possible that she’s simply upping her diva-game, and wants to make a Grand Entrance - a theory which may well be suggested by her desire to hog the limelight with some shameless showboating over Robert’s shoulder (aka giving hell to Robert’s favourite chair).
Additionally, we were mindful that 5 November was approaching, and were therefore especially grateful to learn that The Dogs Trust’s generous offer of one-to-one behavioural advice for their erstwhile charges does not expire beyond the early days of rehoming. We had a wonderfully positive zoom session with the lovely Jennifer, who reassured us that medication might help us all to weather Bonfire Night, while we’re working on longer-term coping strategies. Needless to say, said behavioural advice is primarily about getting us, rather than Duffy, into good habits.*
*[hmm… good luck with that, Jennifer! Between us we’ve got 107 years of ingrained bad behaviour. …Oh. I see. Just specifically in relation to Duffy. In that case, there may be more of a chance…]
Anyway…
…We ended up splashing out for some prescription Duffy-spliff (that might not be its official name) from the vet. Its eye-watering cost did, I confess, make us briefly wonder whether we should just consume it ourselves, in lieu of a very uncharacteristic and indulgent night out. But it also brought on new concerns…
Might our good intentions cause more anxiety for our heroine? Would she suffer from some form of locked-in syndrome - still anxious, but unable to dispel said anxiety? Would she, in effect, Have A Bad Trip? <cue: observing Duffy for signs of a psychedelic-film-sequence-stylee experience. NB Caveat videor, to those who don’t know/remember the film (left): there are images here which some might find upsetting>
Fortunately, our administration of Duffy’s meds on Sunday (i.e. The Actual 5th) was even better than our (still necessary) rehearsal on Saturday 4th, and Her Duffiness was considerably more relaxed than on previous firework occasions. Slight delay on our first attempt notwithstanding, it was clear that the medication had achieved what it was meant to, and she ended up being comfortably numb [see what I did there?] on both nights. Hurrah!
It was as we were monitoring Duffy’s progress at this point that it struck us… Might she be learning from Robert’s recent insights into surrealist art, and seeking to contribute to Wright History’s historical endeavours and collective well-being at Wrightington Towers…?
Stay with me, for a flight of fancy…
We’ve just broadcast our Short & Sweet course on Dalí and Miró - two titans of Spanish surrealism - which included discussion of Buñuel and Dalí ’s surrealist masterpiece, Un Chien Andalou (1929).*
*[voila, but it comes with a big fat caveat videor warning: Personally, I’m OK with art pushing the boundaries of my comfort zone, but there’s some stuff here which even I find uncomfortable, so it’s only fair to warn you that the surrealists’ images are potentially discomfiting even now!]
Are those wide open eyes as her medication was kicking in an homage to the infamous eye sequence in the film? Could she be forging a role as Une Chienne Anglaise…?
Alternatively, might Duffy be seeking to create her version of Dalí’s infamous Hitchcockian nightmare sequence in Spellbound (1945), to help us reach new artistically-inclined Denizens?
Eh. OK. Probably not. But as some of you know, I’m currently enjoying a “bootcamp” on digital media, which has led me to consider all sorts of hitherto unimaginable things - including wondering whether we should put the archive recordings of some of our Short & Sweet courses Out There via social media, in the hope of finding new Denizens. Who knows where this could lead us all?
As I continue to ponder such surreal possibilities, let’s retreat to two of our favourite - and much less disturbing - kind-of-psychedelic sequences…*
*[No trigger warnings required from now on!]
Can you guess which is mine and which is Robert’s…?
I leave you, however, with this image of Duffy presenting as a pirate’s parrot at Robert’s shoulder, as she has done on several occasions recently. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions as to whether this might be a surrealist endeavour…
Also… do you think that we should put recordings from our archive into the scary worlds of YouTube, TikTok, or Facebook? What might have encouraged you to venture into the World of Wright History if you didn’t already know us? Any pointers would be very very welcome - do please let us know, either in comments here, by email, or with actual words in conversation as appropriate!