So when bedtime comes around here I start turning out lights and then head into the bathroom to hop into my jammies. Elvira always manages to get in before I close the door. Elvira is the little furry cream colored one. She waits patiently while I change clothes and then we go into the bedroom. Icarus gets her treat up on the dresser. She gets 5 pieces cause they are small.
Then I give Daisy her milk bone and then Elvira. This is the order of the pack. There always has to be an alpha and that is me, whether they like it or not. Then comes Daisy because she was the first dog. Elvira is the baby, but she may be the oldest. But the pecking order remains the same. It never varies. At no time am I ever left alone. When I am on the computer I have a cat on my lap and a dog at my feet. If I nap in my recliner I have a cat on one side, a dog on the other and the other dog is under my foot rest. When I go to close the geese up at night, I am accompanied my my trio. Some times Elvira is tired and waits in the house. Are you getting the picture? My animals love me and I in turn, love them.
Of course there are times I need to go do errands and they can not go. At those times they set in a row and watch me go out the door. They know I will be back and I know they will be there. And homecoming is always the same. They are so happy to see me that I feel guilty for leaving them. Daisy is the most insecure as she is always first to greet me and there are not enough pets to calm her.
As I was driving in to town yesterday, I was thinking about my menagerie. And then I was jolted to reality by the memory of a stray dog on South Road. I thought how many people get dogs and tie them outside. I pictured myself as a dog in that postition.
I could see my humans inside the warm house. I could see them eating and drinking and laughing, and I could see myself alone. Alone and cold. No warm food for me. No one to hold me close. The ground is cold and my water is frozen. Maybe they forgot about me. I barked to remind them I was there and the man just opened the door and threw something at me. All I wanted was a little attention. Why did they bring me here? If they did not want me to be part of the family, why didn't they just leave me at the pound? At least there I had hope. Here I have nothing. There is nothing I can do. I have an old rug, but no house. I can not even run away because I have a chain holding me to a tree.
Of course I had to set there and bawl about it, but what can I do? I am not sure that it was even about dogs. It rather parallels life, doesn't it? Once I was young and vital and active, but now I am slowing down, much like the old dog in the yard. But whatever it is , I do hope if you are reading this and you have a dog and he is tied outside that you will bring him inside. It is cold and why do you want an animal if you aren't going to love it and keep it warm.? Take it back to the pound. Of course it will no doubt end up being euthanized, but at least that is quicker than the slow painful reality of living on the end of a chain.
Don't know why I am on this trip tonight. I suppose we all go through this when we get older and lose someone. It makes us face out own mortality and I face mine in the guise of a dog. So guess I will go to bed. Tomorrow is another day.
