Sometimes I ask myself the question, 'Why do we have dogs?' (Not why do dogs exist but why does our family own two of them) Maybe it's because I have always fancied how unique plastic carpet runners look on my furniture or the slightly wild texture that dog hair adds to my clothing. Maybe it's because it forces me to be vigilant about keeping doors closed, things picked up off the floor and food away from the edge of the table or because I prefer the soft sounds of whining and snuffling under my door to the startling sounds of my alarm clock... Of course the real reason is because we had an angel dog named Beth for eight years who made our home somehow more complete and when she passed away we told our two youngest children still living at home that we would get another dog. As much as we missed Beth we didn't miss the hairy coating on all surfaces in our home or the squishy land mines in the grass so it took us a year and a half before we actually got another dog.
We rescued Zoey from the shelter. One of our daughters was drawn to Zoey because she was sitting quietly while all the other dogs were barking and she has the captivating quirk of one lazy ear that flops while her other ear stands up straight. She was skinny and only cautiously friendly. She was supposed to be a Greyhound/Visla mix. We were later told she was probably mostly Belgian Malanois--definitely a herding breed of some sort. She does run like a greyhound and she is quite smart like a herding dog but she is very skittish and hides her fears behind frightening barking and gnashing of teeth---not real warm to people. She also bites at peoples' heels and loves to pull up chunks of grass just for fun. Did I mention we noticed right away that Zoey was definitely another dog---not like our Bethy at all.
Zoey was so much fun that we decided to get yet another dog. Actually we were hoping a second dog would help Zoey use up some of her energy and calm her. My husband was tired of being outnumbered by girls so he wanted a male dog---a beagle to be specific. (You see the captain of the ship on the television show called Enterprise---yet another Star Trek byproduct-- has a beagle so if my husband has a beagle then that takes him one step closer to being captain of a star ship--which would make him very happy and he would be very good at it too) We have now had Bo the Tri-Colored Beagle for a year. He is cute and affectionate. He is a voracious eater which I understand is part of the breed and he loves to chew. He chewed up a remote for my husband's big screen television (my husband does share the television with the rest of the family, but like the remote control, it is really his) and he still kept his happy home which proves how much my husband likes him. I think Zoey enjoys having company and she behaves a bit better just to show us that she is the good dog---because she doesn't have drooling jowls that slime furniture and people, she doesn't run away to find food at the neighbors, and she doesn't chew up remotes. My youngest daughter says that Zoey is like a thin exotic model and Bo her wealthy portly little man friend. They do make an interesting pair. Zoey loves to play more than anything and Bo loves to eat more than anything. They are both a bit crazy but then again so are we---that is why we are their owners...
One particularly pesky habit all too often displayed by both of our dogs gives me good reason to ask the question, 'Why do we have dogs?' Zoey and Bo rush to the fence like barking maniacs whenever a dog on the other side gets too close to the fence or breathes too loudly. The barking would be bad enough but they also claw and bite at the fence and then gag up pieces of fence. We have four neighbors bordering our backyard. Three of them have dogs. We have shredded fence slats and posts in three main spots. I know that according to dog experts they are exhibiting territorial dominant aggressive behavior---they are defending their space but during flights of fancy I can imagine the neighbor dogs taunting our dogs by muttering offensive remarks up close to the fence--- I've seen cats that could take you---you bark like a girl dog---I see you eat dog food, my people feed me steak off the grill---you are so lucky there's a fence here---What if people were that territorial? (Maybe they are--maybe I am---like when I grumble when someone pulls into a parking space next to me before I have had a chance to exit my vehicle or when I would get kind of irritated when a very tall adult would sit in a seat right in front of one of my children at a movie or when I feel crowded when another family puts their blanket a little too close to my picnic at the park---you know those little moments of guilty irritation--moments that I try to follow up with some self-talk on the need to share---luckily I don't bite fences---I don't even like toothpicks) When our dogs exhibit this frustrating behavior I try to tell them 'no' in my most authoritative voice and they stop---for at least two minutes or until my neighbors call their dogs in either because the barking is getting to them or my repeated commands are getting to them.
My daughter and I frequently muse about what it would be like if people acted like dogs . We are so thankful that people don't greet one another with highly personal sniffing and can you imagine hearing human scratching , growling or biting at the wall dividing bathroom stalls or voting booths or any other confined spaces where people might get to feeling territorial or defensive? On the other hand, I can picture dogs relaxing on the sofa watching television while their owners pound the wall when the person in the neighboring apartment is being noisy and saying to themselves--'there they go again, why do they do that?' I blame this line of thinking partially on a comedian/musician named Jim Stafford who years ago as part of a comedy routine asked the question, "Do you ever wonder what your dogs do when you're gone all day?" He said he thought dogs re-arrange the furniture. I had so much fun thinking about that---I really did.
Our dogs do have their good points. Zoey looks so cute and hopeful when she wants to play and if I exercised her to her heart's content I would be a lot thinner! Bo likes to cuddle and has a constant adorable hound dog expression. Petting the dogs is very soothing. I have dogs because they love me, they are fine with my silly jokes, they enthusiastically greet me, and they constantly remind me that simple pleasures are priceless and precious. My grand kids do all this and more and they don't bite the fence. Why do we have dogs?
