The Impediment Of Dog

Dogs are a total pain in the backside. They shed hair, their mark bamboo floors, they need attention, they generate veterinarian bills. You can't take a vacation without worrying whether they come or stay and if they stay who looks after them? They generally die before you do and when they die they take a piece of your heart, painfully, with them. Why own a dog?You might want to own a dog because they take you places you never went before. Who knew bracken (a particular kind of fern) grows in the Keys? Cheyenne does:

"She's eating something in the grass" the distraught snowbird called out as he cycled by. Hey, she's a dog, she hunts, and I am not going to put my hand in her mouth, thanks. Are you? She's a fine way to make friends if that's what you feel like: Sometimes she trundles back to me with some foul smell on her breath, but she's a dog. You might own a dog because dog faces are cute:

Sometimes owning a dog means you just get to look the other way and hope when she throws up it's not in the house. Cheyenne agrees whole heartedly licking those furtive lips:

And watching your dog drink disgusting puddle water instead of the refreshing, clean, filtered water you offer her, just makes no sense at all. No wonder Muslims wrinkle their noses in disgust at dogs they really can be dirty.A happy dog's life is a thing of wonder and endless entertainment. Dogs are the perfect Christians. They forgive us our trespasses endlessly, they don't hold resentments, they don't commit adultery or covet our things, they have blind faith in the future and in us and they love like there is no tomorrow, even if you beat them and ill use them. Amazing creatures:And you get to share the woods with someone who likes them as much as you do:

The fact that you are there is what makes it fun for her. Dogs are pack animals and locking them out of the house just makes them lonely. Dogs want to share the joy of the walk with you. What fun is exploring on your own?Cheyenne cringes when I apply medicine to her feet and ears but she still wants to be with me when I'm done torturing her:A night at work without a Labrador is nowhere near as fun as answering 9-1-1 calls with a wet snout in your lap. Even if it was just a quick visit to introduce my new family member:
And dispatchers are notorious for ordering more food than they can possibly eat and putting the discards in the trash which is just the place for a dog to stick her head:The Labrador slept happily in the car all night for a week while the wife was away and waited patiently for the early morning walk followed by breakfast and a deep sleep at home in that order. She shows all the signs of being an excellent night shift drone:Then you find yourself out looking for pictures and you see a corny but pretty picture of a boat on the water and it looks like this:

But Cheyenne blunders into the frame and as you shoo her away the picture comes out like this:"Well, shit," you say to yourself trying to squeeze some lemonade out of the lemon the dog handed to you , "I'll put Cheyenne in the picture." No sooner said than done, except the exposure is all wrong. Double shit, start again.She doesn't care, she's got smells to explore and rotten food to find in the mangrove roots. In summer it will be too hot to explore so we need to make the most of winter:
And some local live aboard left his over sized dinghy around just ripe for a Labrador to explore.I see lots of dog owners dismally walking their bored animals up and down their streets or running them so their owners get their exercise and the dog has to speed past the interesting smells. I am firmly of the belief a dog, like a human needs to use it's brain when exercising and I like to let Cheyenne roam as much as she can. She comes home and passes out. "What a well behaved dog you have," they say, marveling at the inert bundle on the bed when they come to dinner.Partly it's her temperament but partly it's the fact that she gets to go out and walk and explore and be a dog. Then, when we get home, she sleeps:There is no doubt that a dog is a responsibility, but if we hadn't taken her from the pound who would have? And why not? Nobody it seems wants a large old dog. A pox on them, I'll give her a home. Bryce may be right; I may have to start a campaign to get a sidecar for the Bonneville.