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The Dog
by Dale Brown, 2008

ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED AT TheBigFiveOh.com Blog @ Yahoo.Com, October 17, 2008

My Golden Retriever, Flicka, is in the hospital, and probably won't leave it. She stopped eating a couple days ago but was getting bigger, and Diane took her to the vet, who put her in the hospital. It doesn't look good.

What is it about our dogs? Why do we accept these hairy, lazy, bottomless eating machines into our lives like this?

We got Flicka from a breeder in Salt Lake City. At first I thought, What a great puppy--it didn't chew, it didn't pee, it didn't do anything but sleep. Turns out it was dying from parvo and ringworm. A weekend of IV fluids and antibiotics, and Flicka (Swedish for "girl") pulled out of it.

For the first 3 years Flicka was pretty much out of control. She had obedience training 3 times a week for months--no effect. We tried a remote-controlled shock collar: she ignored the shocks. I'll never forget her racing down the street after a car, yelling "Yipe! Yipe! Yipe!" every time I hit the button of the remote, oblivious to the idea that she was supposed to stop when she felt the shock.

When folks would come up and say, "What a nice dog," I would say "Do you want her?" One day, a drive-up bank teller said "Yes." The fear of what my family would do to me if I actually gave her away made me say "I was just kidding."

It took 3 years to get out of the puppy phase, and she turned out to be a great dog. She had a personality. She understood what you told her. She learned obedience. She had expressions--she could smile, frown, look guilty, look innocent. She was protective, especially when other dogs (even familiar dogs) came near her family, even though she was the most friendly and trusting dog around. She loved children.

You could learn dog language from Flicka. Flicka licking her lips meant "Please." Flicka yawning meant "You're irritating me." Flicka turning her head away from your voice meant "I really don't want to but I will if you insist."

We'll se what happens tonight. But if we lose her, we'll definitely be losing a member of the family, and it will be hard on all of us.

Good dog, Flicka. Go lay down now.

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