my dog's better than your dog.

so there was a blind guy who blacked out and fell onto a subway track as a train was coming. his guide dog jumped down there and licked his face to get him to wake up and move. which i guess he did. yeah. blind guy saved by heroic dog. the rest of the story is that the dog was about to be retired. and i guess when a guide dog retires, he has to start packing. to make room for the new dog. but generous donations after the man's lucky and publicized fall, will now allow the man to keep his old dog and get a new dog.

at any rate, this little news item got me to thinking how awfully cruel this system of retiring service dogs is. i mean, yeah, i guess i understand that a service dog has to be helpful and not something to be taken care of, but gee, golly whiz- a dog like this is priceless. part of the family. how do you ship a dog whose meant this much in your life off to shady pines?

i like dogs. well, a lot of them, anyway. i actually think dogs are much like people. there are dogs you like and dogs you don't. i think i give dogs the dignity of being individuals rather than lumping them all together.

i guess i am a bit of a dog racist though, in that there are breeds of dogs i really don't like. for really no good reason, except that i just don't. for instance, poodles. hate them. and greyhounds. skeletons with skin. and yeah- labradoodles and chihuahuas. icky.

and on the flipside, i'm prone to liking beagles. and collies. and dachshunds. just because of their faces.

but on the whole, i think dogs are rather wonderful. and if i could find a dog who didn't depend on me for anything at all- walks in cold weather or being fed when i'm traveling or being kept company when i'm not home, i'd have a dog for sure.

i was back to the hometown for this weekend. and my son's dog greeted me royally. (my grandson had two friends over and one of them commented "wow, he didn't act like that when i got here. he must really like you.") and then sat on me, literally sat on me almost the whole time i was there. we are friends i'd say. he made me feel like "i never want you to go away. to make my point, i will sit on you. i like you that much."

i like him that much too.