Two Cool Dog Stories (Dog Lovers Alert!!)

A Tribute to Dogs; Greyfriars Bobby Bothy ^ | 12/13/01

[RLK]

My SIL got old Bo from the humane society. Half semoyd and half golden retriever as a puppy when he weighed four pounds. He is a good-natured ruffian with a great sense of humor.

[Flyer]

Thanks for the ping. What shall we call this little doggie group of ours? FRanimals? FRoofers?

[Neets]

BEAUTIFUL ANIMAL!!!!!!!!! Thanks for the pics.

[Neets]

Can you add me to that dog fan list also???

[DugwayDuke]

If you're starting a dog list, then add my name too. BTW, that must have been some office with two mastiffs. I've got one lying by my feet as I type. Not quite two, female, 170 pounds. Makes my Great Dane look small. Quite protective and very possessive. She's got her head lying upon my foot so she'll know when I get up. Follows my every step. We call her "Mooch" and she's very good at it. Duke's the Great Dane, a really laid back senior citizen who just loves to cuddle up and take naps with people.

I had a door to door security systems salesman ring the doorbell. When I opened the door, Duke and Mooch were staring him in the eye. His just said: "I guess you're really not interested in a security system and walked off."

[mafree]

..a dog from a shelter, especially one that came from an abused or neglected background, will be your friend and protector for life!..

You are so right. These dog threads make me want to go down and get one myself.

[mafree]

They must be a fun bunch- thanks for talking about them!

[mafree]

Thanks for the ping. What shall we call this little doggie group of ours? FRanimals? FRoofers?

I hadn't planned to start a dog lovers list but I guess we can. Any other ideas for names?

[mafree]

Can you add me to that dog fan list also???

I don't have an offical list yet but I'll be sure to ping you when I see a dog thread.

[mafree]

Someday I'll tell of Beano, the great longhair-German Shepherd-Coyote-Chow-Whatever, my best friend through my early teens, who travelled the country in a trailer behind my brother's motorcycle.

Please do- we'd be glad to hear it.

[mafree]

BTW, that must have been some office with two mastiffs...

Yeah, they were both friendly males and weighed about 225 and 180 respectively. They ate a lot, drank a lot (they were always eager to share my lunch), and left proof of that all over the neighborhood. I liked to walk them and folks just loved them, especially kids. People would call out compliments out of bus windows, etc. Nobody messed with that place either.

I'll be sure to ping you and will add you to any formal list that starts- I got some names from another dog thread.

[blam]

"A working dog,they want to be doing something all the time."

My Australian Shephard does do something all the time. He never sleeps. (Just ask my other three dogs)

[Calico]

Please add me to your list. In memory of K-9 Kurt, who took a bullet for my brother-in-law.

[plinker's2sense]

Another dog lover WOOF :^)

[Osinski]

I've had dogs...dogs with stories...lots of stories, but the favorite family story is the one about the dog named Pogo. We had just moved out to the country and were a young couple with an intelligent and funny poodle mix named Hannah, the only spoiled dog of a childless couple. As we were in the process of carrying in the boxes, a dog showed up...a young, big male doberman with floppy ears and a cropped tail who's rear end wriggled when you looked in his direction, and who jumped on on fours like a deer bounding through the woods. A dog of boundless energy... the kind that people abandon because he needs room to bounce.

Turns out he's a stray. So we keep him.

Turns out we moved next to a family (if you could call them that) of redneck cock-fighter and pit-bull breeders who were dirty, foul-mouthed, ignorant drunks, and carried guns to pay a visit....you get the picture.

One day a couple months later, Hannah was attacked by one of the pitbulls. Almost didn't make it. 118 stiches...just horrible. The dogs were horrible...we were afraid to ride our bikes down the road because the dogs would run out snarling and growling, and we had seen what happened to Hannah.

Ok, so a couple months later, on a Sunday, early in the morning, I was out front with the dogs. Hannah and Pogo nosing around in the front yard, when around the corner of the driveway come two snarling pitbulls heading right for Hannah. I got up screaming for my husband (asleep in bed) who came running out with a shovel. Before he could get there, Pogo attacked the dogs...I mean he literally had both of them in the ditch, one was on his back, the other he had by the throat and was thrashing him like a ragdoll. (I have never seen anything like this.) He threw that dog to the side and it went squealing and wimpering back to the hellhole it came from. And then he turned on the other dog. That other dog was a bloody mess and it ran home...I thought for sure it would die. Whew, what a rush. We never had any trouble again with the neighbors or their dogs. Pogo, what a dog.

[mafree]

Bump for Pogo the hero dog.

[Chong]

"The Power of the Dog" by Rudyard Kipling

There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie --
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.

When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet's unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find -- it's your own affair --
But . . . you've given your heart to a dog to tear.

When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!)
When the spirit hat answered your every mood
Is gone -- wherever it goes -- for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart to a dog to tear.

We've sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we've kept'em, the more do we grieve;

For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long --
So why in -- Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?

I wanted to share this poem with you and other dog lovers. This poem always brings tears to my eyes (I lost a very special one after 12 years), but it also reminds me to treasure each moment we have with our loving companions.
Please add me to your list. Thanks. Woof.