DOGS as owners

I Love Funny Dogs

The picture of two dogs running towards the camera is magnificent to some and threatening to others. For the few, like me, who used to hunt packs of wild dogs there is nothing endearing about this photography, or cute. In an ambush, or an unexpected attack any more than two dogs to fight is not promising. Fighting two dogs is a skill with no promise of an outcome until either the man wounds or kills a dog, or one, or both of the dogs wound or kill the man. That dance I am familiar with.

When even the cutest most lovable dogs have sudden recollections about their true nature as wild free spirits a dog owner's insistence that that is not possible becomes as dangerous as the attack, if and when it happens. I am thinking of the 'friendly' dogs I've nearly killed in Washington DC. to protect a friend, as recently as four to five years ago! I am also thinking of my own dog who leashed and sitting close to me without warning attacked a man trying to rip his genitals out.

It wasn't until my father calmly remarked, "The man probably mistreated Shushky when he was a pup wandering around the forest and the neighborhood."

The assumptions of many dog owners borders or centers on an arrogant, or a joyful perspective about their pets. Either perspective, or the combination has proven sad for somebody somewhere. In the re-thinking of dog ownership in the United States the kinship between race and superiority, conquest and dominance are themes. Owning a pet, as many know, requires deep thought about several overlooked topics. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 2.13.13