The thanks I get

[Ken Burton]

            Rob,

            I'd be careful about that "gentle rap on the snout with the
tuning hammer" if I were you! Read the following story:

            (Ed Dowling, RPT from the Long Island-Suffolk, NY Chapter, told
me this story which actually happened to another member of the chapter.)

            "One of the members of the Long Island-Suffolk Chapter was
tuning a piano in a client's home. The occupants of the home were in another
part of the house and only their tiny pet dog was paying any attention to
the tuning process.
            "The little dog was paying too much attention, in fact. He was
making a pest of himself, grabbing at the tuner's pant legs and nipping his
ankles. The RPT was trying to shoo the dog away, kicking at him to make him
stop, and scolding him aloud, hoping the owners would come and take him
away. Nothing helped.
            "After a particularly savage bite, the tuner lost his temper and
conked the little biter on the head with his tuning lever. The dog keeled
over, dead. All efforts to revive the little thing proved futile. The dog
was, indeed, dead.
            "Now what was the tuner to do? All he could think of was the
terrible consequences that would follow if the family found out that their
piano tuner had killed their dog!
            "To the distraught tuner, there was only one possible course of
action. He bundled up the little dog and stuffed him into his tool kit. When
he finished tuning the piano and left the house, the cadaver went with him.
            "What happened next, you'll have to imagine because that's all
Ed told me!"

                        Ken Burton "Doctor Piano" Calgary Alberta
                                   kwburton@cadvision.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Rob Stuart-Vail <rob_sv@email.msn.com>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Thursday, December 17, 1998 1:12 PM
Subject: Re: The thanks I get


>My French Horn teacher had a chihuahua named Siegfried, who had been
trained
>to "attack."  On command, "Siegfried - kill!"  the dog would leap on the
>visitor's leg and hump away - kind of surprising, and I'm glad none of my
>piano clients have dogs like this, though there are many pushy critters who
>seem to need that gentle rap on the snout with the tuning hammer to quiet
>them down.
>
>Rob
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Jeff Tanner <jtanner@mozart.music.sc.edu>
>To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
>Date: Thursday, December 17, 1998 10:26 AM
>Subject: Re: The thanks I get
>
>
>>>Larry, I've had dog experiences, but yesterday was the most bizarre. I
was
>>>at a huge, immaculate house doing the yearly tuning. Husband let me in,
>>>was very frosty in demeanor, as though I was a great inconvenience.
>>>Took me to the piano which was LOADED with every Christmas statue
>>>possible, but made no effort to clear the top. Wife is in the kitchen at
>>>the table sipping coffee. I gathered I was expected to clear the piano,
>>>asked if the statues could go on a coffee table nearby. I guess so.
>>>Usually I ask the customer to move breakables, but I was so anxious to
get
>>>this unpleasant man out of the room I started moving them, and he indeed
>>>did leave.
>>>
>>>A little doggie, maybe ShihTzu?, came in the room and sniffed my tools. I
>>>picked them up to put them on a chair, and suddenly the little thing was
>>>mating with my leg. I was so startled I kicked my leg ferociously, and
>>>next thing I knew the dog was flying through the air and slammed down
>>>across the room. I was horrified, but he stood up and ran away. The
>>>incident must have made a bit of noise, but neither husband in the office
>>>with his back to me or wife at the table even turned.
>>>
>>>Other than that, it was a normal day!
>>>Mark Graham
>>
>>Sounds exactly like a Shih Tzu to me!  I lived with one for about a year.
>>Those little dogs have the most incredible sex drive I've ever seen!
>>
>>Jeff Tanner, Piano Technician
>>School of Music
>>University of South Carolina
>>Columbia, SC 29208
>>(803)-777-4392 (phone)
>>(803)-777-6508 (fax)
>>
>>
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