Pooja Viswanathan
This is a series to introduce the Tri-I community to the wildlife amongst us. In this issue, Natural Selections’ Pooja Viswanathan interviews Watson Gonzales (follow on Instagram @_watson_dog_), the terrier mix who lives with Kevin Gonzales (postdoc, Fuchs Lab).
Pooja Viswanathan: How long have you lived in New York City?
Watson Gonzales: I was moved to NYC in July 2017. I remember being scared in the car ride and pooped inside my carrier. Then I met my dad and the first thing he did was pour water on me and scrub me with soap! I’ve been in NYC now for 1.5 hooman’ years, and I still don’t know why he keeps doing that to me! I’ve learned it’s called a “bath.” I’m scared of baths!
PV: Where do you live? What is your favorite neighborhood in NYC?
WG: I live in Manhattan. I like my neighborhood, the Upper East Side. I heard only snobby rich dogs live here but I’m certainly not one! All my doggie and most of my hooman’ friends aren’t either!
PV: If you could live anywhere else in the world, where would you live?
WG: Anywhere with a big backyard where I can run run run run like a gazelle! My hooman’ brought me to Cape Cod for Thanksgiving and I love it there. Lots of space to explore! I chased and caught a mouse, but the hoomans’ got angry because it didn’t survive…I just wanted to play with it. 🙁
PV: What are your favorite foods of NYC?
WG: Hooman’ food definitely! I always look at hoomans’ eating with puppy eyes, and they always give me some! I love outsmarting hoomans’! Unless it’s salad, celery or strawberries. Ewww!
PV: What do you miss most when you are out of town?
WG: I don’t miss anything. Whenever I’ve been out of town, there’s always a big backyard to run around in and mud to roll in!
PV: What is your favorite weekend activity in NYC?
WG: What’s a weekend? My activities are eat, sleep, poop, and play. My favorite is play.
PV: Which human do you live with? How do they belong in the Tri-I community?
WG: I live with Kevin, he says he is a postdoc at The Rockefeller University, but I don’t know what that means. All I know is he keeps doing fun things outside home and won’t bring me.
PV: Besides your human roomie, who is your favorite human in the Tri-I community? (If you could share your bone with anyone in the Tri-I community, who would it be?)
WG: All my roomie’s friends think they’re my favorite, especially Tati! She always kidnaps me from my home when my roomie isn’t around. But she gives me biscuits, belly rubs, and takes really good pictures of me that highlight my true beauty! I guess she isn’t half-bad.
PV: Can you tell us a funny story?
WG: Once I went hiking with my hoomans’ upstate, and I found a big pile of poop! I thought it smelled nice so I wanted some on my fur and rolled on it! My hoomans’ made a funny face when they saw me and said, “What’s wrong with this dog?” They took all the tissue paper in the car to undo my effort. Guess they don’t like the smell of poop as much as I do…in the end, Kevin had to use his gym towel and Tati’s water to give me a bath. Their faces were so funny; it looked like they were getting sick, not sure why. Oh wait…you said a funny story, but that one had a sad ending with me getting an actual bath. I hate baths!
