DOGS!

 DOGS

 

When I became a young man, my younger sister fell in love with a

 mongrel dog she just could not do without. Since we never had a

 dog during our growing-up years, this was something new.

There was a small problem. The dog was a mixture of Dachshund

 and Beagle. The Beagle part was not a real hassle. He just

 “sniffed” and “followed” everything! But the Dachshund part was

 a whole different “kettle of fish.” The dog dug up flowerbeds to 

my mother’s dismay; dug up my garden to my dismay and 

we literally had to fence him out of everything. Nothing we 

did to discipline or teach the dog worked. We were simply dealing

 with an animal not compatible with us at all! 

DIVERSITY became our weakness!

He was an OUTSIDE dog; never allowed IN the house. Instead, he

 had a nice traditional “dog house” with a comfortable blanket

 OUTSIDE on our small porch. He loved it, and it was his

 sanctuary. He KNEW he did “wrong” from time to time, acted very

 “guilty” and would run into my sister’s arms 

every time he got “caught.”

There was a large creek running by the house. It was bank to bank

 with flowing water during the winter rainy season, but during the

 summer it would dry down to a trickle, or even to just pools of

 water. We irrigated out of the stream and there was always plenty

 of water available.

During the spring Salmon run, the fish would come up the creek

 from the ocean to spawn. After completing their life’s mission,

 they died and were found floating along the banks up and down

 the stream. It became a source of food for the “clean-up

 committee,” including wild animals and some domestic ones.

 While lying dead, the fish would bloat and develop a condition

 known as “salmonella.” It was often deadly for dogs.

Naturally, old “digger” could not resist. Gorging himself on the

 “free welfare,” he got “sicker than a dog” and soon became

 almost unresponsive. My sisters grief was unimaginable. 

I was concerned, too, but I was not as emotionally i

nvolved at first. Eventually, we both begged mom and 

dad to take  the dog to an “animal doctor.”

The diagnosis…..SALMONELLA POISONING.

There was an antidote available, and it cost $25 dollars. Dad and

 mom did not feel it was worth the money. Twenty five dollars then

 was a very large amount of money that people today cannot

 appreciate or fathom at all. But emotion ruled the day, 

and the dog got his reprieve.

He was never the same after his ordeal. But my sister had her dog

 back! I went into the US Army that winter and never saw the

 animal again. Losing me on the farm meant my folks had to move

 back to town again, and did so, and the dog became a problem 

for someone else…..

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