In 1954, a television series debuted. It was the story of a dog named Lassie. I grew up watching the show. Has it been sixty-two years? The numbers don't lie. Yes, it has been that long. Recently, I began watching old episodes of Lassie on cable. He, Lassie who played a she, was some heroic dog! The dog did all kinds of outstanding things. It was rightfully so that she was the main character of the show. To me, the humans were merely bit characters. Lassie was the STAR.
From that show, my memory of it is not all that great. What I do remember is that every dog we got on the farm, myself and siblings tried teaching our dogs tricks. It all came from watching that dog on television. We wanted our Lassie. But we seemed to be limited in our teaching. Curly, our dog, would bark when told to speak. She would lay down on demand. But she wouldn't play dead. She would shake hands. Of course, she came to us when called. But I think any dog would do that. It seems to be something to them knowing their name. We could never get our dog to be like Lassie. But we loved her anyway.
In later years, I never tried teaching a dog tricks. I did have other dogs in adulthood. But right now I don't have a dog. But if I had one now, I think I'd have the patience to try teaching one. I do wish for that puppy once again. Until maybe I get another dog, I'll continue watching old episodes of Lassie.
In the meantime, my focus remains on taking care of my cats. I do remain also a dog lover even without having one now. The thought of getting a puppy does remain fresh in my mind...a puppy is so cute!
