Man's Best Friend

I've been reading all about the first Presidential promise from President-elect Obama. His daughters have been promised a puppy. The official First Dog has yet to be found or chosen, but it is promised. I also read a comment made by the Senator in which he said something about a pound puppy, but then made a personal reference using the word, "mutt." Well, as a Heinz 57, myself, I'd like to make a few comments and offer some advice when it comes to dogs, but first I'll quote President Harry S. Truman. He said if you want a friend in Washington, better get a dog! He offered Missouri wisdom, and here comes some more from his home state!
I have a very special dog, that came into our lives just recently. We were just heartbroken to not be able to maintain a "farm dog" that didn't like free range chicken dinner. So, I prayed about it and I knew we were going to end up with a free puppy and there was some sort of abandonment in the details, but I wasn't sure about that, until . . . I saw an ad that said FREE puppies and called. The woman went on to explain that a female dog had been "dumped" in the late spring. She said it quickly became very apparent that this dog was going to have puppies. She had nine, and then when the puppies were 12 days old, she was hit by a car. The woman hand fed all these pups for the next four weeks until she could advertise them. We went that same day and I immediately fell in love with a short haired black male puppy with four large white paws, that we named Geronimo. Short hair is best for allergy problems. Our grandson is terribly allergic, so I made a point of choosing the pup with the shortest hair and our grandson has had no problems. Geronimo became part of the family immediately. Now, we have no idea this little guy's background, but I expand his collar weekly. We have no idea how big he will get, but he is certainly growing at a steady and rather rapid rate. Clearly a pure pedigree is out of the question, but every morning and every night he goes with me to do chores and he hasn't helped himself to any chicken dinner! Mutts are great!
I have two more mutt stories that I must share. When I was having a terrible time with my MS, I decided a dog would be a great companion and possibly offer some assistance. I went to a shelter and saw cage after cage of dogs, but none spoke to me, until we got to the cage up at the end of the trail. I was walking with two crutches at that time and when I looked into the cage of five large dogs, one looked back at me as though we were old friends, and we soon became just that. He was, as best we could tell, a German Shepherd and Golden Retriever cross. He was the best of all worlds. He was loyal, he was smart, he was great company and he was a big gentle giant. Again, mutts are great!
The last mutt story I will reminisce is one that came into our lives on an election evening. It was 1984 and I had just gotten home from work, preparing dinner, when my then 8 year old daughter came to the door with a puppy of some mix, and tears in her eyes. She said some people were going to destroy a litter of puppies, could we keep this one. His name became Fritz, named of course for our candidate, Mondale. Fritz was a great dog. We never knew his background, but he was small and seemed he might be of more of an ornamental small dog background, but he was the watchdog of all times, but never even showed his teeth. He always slept on the mat at the door and even though he was small, he had a "big dog" bark. People were always shocked to see what small creature had produced such a bark from the other side of the door.
To the Obamas, I couldn't recommend more strongly, a pound puppy. They are the best. I've owned a pedigreed pup or two, and I would never, ever seek anything but a lovable faithful mutt. Not only are they man's best friend, this girl gets pretty attached to them, as well.
A righteous man regards the life of his animal . . . a Proverb of Holy Scripture