“The opportunity to love a dog is an opportunity for a selfish heart to be redeemed. They are powerless and it’s how we treat the humblest among us that determines the fate of our soul.” – Dean Koontz
I’ve always loved dogs. But as we grow up, we slowly lose that simple pure connection we had with our canine best friends. We get busier with school and working, with the opposite sex, with grown up life. I often wish I could go back and take back the time I wasted on all that meaningless baloney…and give it back to my long gone dogs who deserved it.
When I retired three and a half years ago, I absolutely did not fret about how I would spend my days and nights. I would spend them with Bella, our Jack Russell Terrier. Bella and I both spend our days with my wife Denise who loves both of us equally. (Well, she might lean more to the dog.)
Bella and I have lengthy conversations regarding canine/human interaction.
The other day I looked out the window and saw the neighbor lady next door talking to her cat. When I told Bella, we both laughed out loud.
“Man, she is CRA-zee! What a loon!”
One of the things that keeps coming up is the question: Why do hoomans (their name for us) insist on calling our dog a wide variety of silly names even though we gave them a good solid dog name right off the bat? It’s downright embarrassing to dog sensibilities.
You named him or her Butch, Fido, Bear, Ginger (Sorry, folks…In Dog Land there are only two sexes) but you insist on calling them Poo Poo, Boo Boo, Lambchops, Baby Dog, Love Bug. You get the idea. Dogs find this really annoying. Especially rottweilers and dobermans.
And dressing them up in little tiny dog clothing and hats. Holiday themed…even worse! “Oh how cute!” You’re lucky you ain’t got bit yet.
Another thing that any dog will tell you…they know full well when you are breaking a treat in two (you cheap #@&*!). A crummy pat on the head don’t quite cut it as a consolation prize.
If you want forgiveness, Bella says a walking/shopping trip to Petsmart or Pet Supermarket to pick out a new toy might cleanse your black soul from those misdeeds. Hallelujah Brother! (Don’t try to pass off the dollar store and their cheap junk…you will heading for Hades!)
We watch movies together. Keanu Reeves is Bella’s favorite actor and we’ve probably watched “John Wick” a dozen times (when she has the remote). In case you don’t know, that movie is about a retired hit man whose dog is killed by mobsters and he proceeds to find and shoot 897 of them…and still feels that that is not enough.
The people who make dog videos on YouTube saw me coming.
Thom Caraccio ([email protected]) is a retired musician and retired motion picture scenic artist living in West Palm Beach, Florida who hails from Columbus. He graduated from S.D. Lee High in 1968 and still considers Columbus his real hometown.
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