Look Alikes

     Do dogs really look like their owners?  Does it really have anything to do with what breed you pick?  Or does the dog, after accepted in the new home, simply pick up on the owner's behavior that makes him resemble the owner?  You be the judge.

The Neighbor's Dog

     There is a man and a woman living in the house across the street from me.  The house is a rental house.  Over the years, I have seen many different people living there.  The man living there right now told my son that the owner of the property did not allow pets.  I have heard this before.  I have also seen pets there anyway from time to time.  I mind my own business.  It has not been a surprise to me to see the man and woman come home with a puppy one day. It is a grey pit bull.  I wonder if they got a dog in hopes of protection.
     I sit here on my porch writing. I observe the treatment of the puppy.   Pit Bulls do have a reputation for being mean.  I see them carry the puppy outside and slap him.  Then they hold him by his neck.  Do they want him to learn to hate people?  Why would they want him to hate them?  Will he ever be able to be around children?
     The puppy is going to get bigger.  The man and the woman will eventually stop bringing the puppy inside and most likely chain him up outside.  It seems to be what they all end up doing. There is no fence on the property. Unfortunately, if they continue to mistreat him, putting him on a chain will be safer for the rest of us.  God help us if they let him roam freely.
     I don't have a dog myself.  If I did, I would treat it with kindness.  I don't like to see animals abused.  I don't think God meant for us to mistreat them.  I think they were meant to be our companions.  I think we should show them love and respect.  That is how you earn their love and respect.  And that makes them want to protect you.

Dog Days of Summer

     The dog days, I always thought, were those summer days so devastatingly hot that even dogs would lie around on the asphalt panting.  Many people today use the phrase to mean something like that- but originally, the phrase actually had nothing to do with dogs.  It had nothing to do with the lazy days of summer.  Instead, it turns out, the dog days refer to the dog star, Sirius, and its position in the heavens. To the Greeks and Romans, the dog days occurred around the day when Sirius appeared to rise just before the sun, in late July.  They referred to these days as the hottest time of the year.  It was a period that could bring fever, or even catastrophes.  Who knew?

Buddy

     Buddy was hit by a car about four weeks ago.  He died instantly.  He was loved by four families along this strip of road.  We all cried and mourned him.  He was a good dog.  He was a handsome dog.  He was only two years old.  He will be missed.

(This was written by my daughter, Karen.)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from the My Life with Dogs blog family.  The black dog is my daughter Karen's dog and the other dog belongs to a friend of hers.  The dogs are enjoying a lovely spring day together.

Two Waters

     As children growing up on a farm, we had our chores to do.  Farm work was easily acceptable, but it was the indoor chores that didn't' sit so well my with myself and my siblings.  We had rooms to clean.  But the most disliked chore was that of washing dishes.  For a family of two parents and six children still at home, there were lots of dishes to wash.  Two sisters had already moved out to go live in the city on their own.  But they came home enough to add to the pile of dishes.  They never got a turn washing dishes as they didn't live in the house.  Mother and Daddy never got a turn either.  Mother cooked meals and Daddy farmed.
     For the longest time, I could not understand when my turn came around why I had so many dishes to wash.  This went on for a long time until it was discovered that my older brother had something to do with it.  His turn to wash dishes was before mine.  He had been hiding the big lot of his dishes and bringing them out when my turn rolled around.  When discovered, my mother put a stop to it.  But, surprisingly, it was not my brother that showed anger.  He merely laughed it off.  One of the older sisters who had already left home pitched in her remarks.  She went in defense of my brother.
     "You're making too big a deal over nothing," she said.  "Your brother was just playing with you."  She continued, "At my house, dishes get washed with no problem.  I put my dishes under Two Waters."  She laughed, "He's my dog."
     I washed dishes the same as always, but kept wondering if I could train our dog to wash dishes.  As a little girl of seven, I was quite gullible at that age.  I actually tried training our dog.  I had no success come of it.  I laugh to this day, recalling that I actually did believe she had a dog named Two Waters.  When visiting her in the city, I never saw any dog.  I found myself even washing her dishes.
     I laugh at that whole incident today.  Why did I fall for the Two Waters story?  Although I am certain the dog never existed, I still hold memories of that dog that might have been.

Bear

     I had a tree that I needed cut down and two others that needed to be topped.  On referral from a co-worker, I found the man that would do the job.  I knew nothing about him except the co-worker said he did a good job for her.  The man came giving an estimate that I accepted.  With him, he brought his dog with him.  In the passenger side of his truck, the dog sat.  It is not uncommon for people to drive around with a dog staring out the window.  But drive around with one on jobs, it was my first time to witness this.  But this dog was evidently the man's close companion or family.  When he and two others came to cut the trees, the dog on a leash was tied in my front yard.  When they went around to the back yard to cut down an entire tree, the dog was led on leash around there and once again tied so as not to run off. 
     It had taken the man three days when actual work began to finish the job.  Every day, the dog came too.  It was now obvious to me that the dog and man were never apart.  I was curious and so asked the breed and name of the dog.  I really guessed myself correctly on the breed.  It was a Pomeranian.  It was a male and his name was Bear.  Not knowing the correct spelling of the breed, I went to the internet.  There I found the correct spelling and more information.  The type of Pomeranian was Teddy Bear.  How appropriate it seemed as this appeared to be where the dog's name came from. 
     I knew nothing personal about the man.  He was there to do a job and not to make friends.  I didn't know the dog was to come every day.  But I can only imagine why.  The dog possibly could have filled a void in the man's life.  I was only guessing.  The dog very well may have replaced loneliness in the man's life.  It sounded like a good possibility to me.  People do become attached to their pets. 
      The work was finished and the man has since gone.  But the memory stays of the dog as he watched his owner and two others cut trees.  Bear would surely now travel on to other tree cutting jobs.  His master seemed to firmly believe in, "Take your pet to work with you."