Gary Numan’s Fascination: Dogs

It’s hard to believe it’s been more than three decades since the release of Gary Numan‘s The Pleasure Principle, the electronic-pop masterpiece that spawned massive hit single “Cars,” one of the defining tracks of the new-wave era. (The song has since been covered and sampled numerous times and been used in countless commercials, movies, TV shows, video games, etc.) To celebrate the highly influential album making in into the Billboard top 20 in 1980 and the recent multi-disc, 30th-anniversary reissue, Numan just kicked off a three-week U.S. tour that features him playing The Pleasure Principle in its entirety, along with songs from his entire career as well as tracks from forthcoming album Splinter. Numan will also be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our Q&A with him.

Numan: I love animals. Pretty much all animals, but especially dogs. Not those funny little things though that people carry about in their pockets—proper dogs. Dogs that actually bark as opposed to just make a tiny little high-pitched yip noise. I don’t think a dog should be classified as a dog if it can fit into your pocket or it goes “yip.” That’s a rodent. Anyway, we have a very big dog back at home. His name is Wilberforce, and he is an Old English Mastiff. He has just turned 20 months old, and he already weighs 200 pounds. The vet says he may well get to 240 pounds before he’s finished growing, maybe more. That’s a dog. His ball bag is twice the size of mine. Actually, at the moment, it’s about 10 times the size of mine as he’s just had the “operation.” Really didn’t want to do it; we tried chemical castration via a periodic injection for quite some time, but it wasn’t really working. Wilber was cocking his leg on every corner of the house. On clothes, toys, carpets, just about everything. Anyway, the vet told us that it will fix that particular problem plus it will calm him down a bit. The man is a liar. Wilber is now leaping around like a 200-pound spring lamb. His sex drive has gone up and his desires are evermore apparent. You try stopping a 200-pound dog from having his way with you. It’s not easy.

He’s worth the effort though. A more loving thing you will never meet. I have read that although all dogs have a strong bond and love for their human family, with a Mastiff it goes several stages further. They need to be close to you, they need you to hug them. It’s so lovely and touching it’s almost sad. He looks after us and looks out for us. No one is allowed near our children without first Wilber walks around them a few times and sits close by watching every little move. No one is allowed to move quickly towards me as Wilber will put himself in between us. Every day I go outside and exercise in our little gym for an hour or so. Without fail, when I open the door Wilber is waiting outside and walks me back to the house.

I sleep better at night knowing he is there. I worry less about the children playing outside because I know Wilber is watching over them. I feel comfortable leaving Gemma and the children at home without me, because Wilber is there. Most of all though, I love coming home and watching his big drooly face flopping from side to side as he runs towards me, with that awkward rolling gait that Mastiffs seem to have. A gentle giant indeed.

Video after the jump.