Ludo
Ludo is a small white and cream longhaired chihuahua dog. He is 3 years old.
Photo of Ludo looking directly at the camera while sitting on a cushion. There is a brick wall behind him.
His favourite food is toast. Plain, buttered, with peanut butter, with jam, any toast.
He loves walks.
Because of his exceedingly long fur he tends to be quite grimy. (See also: grotty, grubby, gross, grungy...) At certain times of the year his fur acts as a magnet for all types of grass seeds and other weedy detritus, and we have to spend time carefully pulling these out of his coat.
He loves his brother Wolfgang but dislikes and is suspicious of other dogs.
Photo of Ludo playfighting with Wolfgang. Ludo is seated on a large cushion, and Wolfgang is standing on the right of the picture on his hind legs.
Ludo hates car rides. When he's in a car he whines the whole time, it's very trying for everyone else who's in the car with him.
He likes being petted but doesn't like sitting in laps.
Ludo was exceedingly difficult to toilet train; it took about 9 months before he seemed to get it. Before Ludo I had toilet trained 3 other chihuahuas so I thought I knew how! I had almost given up in despair and was trying to resign myself to having to clean up after Ludo and live in a house that had ever-present, faint aromas of canine pee... And then one day he seemed to get it. Nowadays he's very good at going to the toilet whenever he's outdoors. He has very occasional "accidents" - usually in my study or next to my side of the bed, when he's feeling unwell, or when he's especially unsettled for some reason.
Speaking of being unsettled: Ludo is completely unaffected by thunder or fireworks. He just sleeps through or carries on unperturbed by these.
Ludo's already had 3 operations - 1 when he was desexed, and 2 ops on his right knee, which kept popping out of its socket. The knee seems to be okay now.
Ludo is "my" dog (whereas Wolfgang is M's). I think he's closer to me because 1) I spent so much time trying to toilet train him, and 2) I looked after him when he was recovering after his two knee operations.
Ludo's registered name is Decerto Silverberg Ludwig. We've never called him "Ludwig" and I don't think he recognises it as his name. It's always Ludo. Nicknames include: Lu, Duey, Baby Lu, Lulu, Lulo, Puffball, Shorty.
He's a very sweet, affectionate little dog who tends to be shy and standoffish with people he doesn't know.