Doggone It

The article written by Victor Flowers

I have a very bad dog. Mac, my twelve year-old lab/pit mix, has, over the years, become the source of many stories within my circle of friends and in my classroom. He provides endless material for status updates, and maybe one day, he will be the inspiration for the book that been simmering inside my soul for quite some time. Mac was a rescue from a job-site that my husband had delivered some pieces of heavy equipment to when he worked for a large equipment company. Based on his size and weight, he was probably no more than a few weeks old. We loved this dog as he was our “first baby.” And, like the birth of a first born-child, there is a period of bliss that overcomes new parents when they meet that sweet baby that can do no wrong. In a blink, something happens- call it sleep-deprivation, insanity, or demonic possession- something happens to shake you from this blissful slumber into the stark reality that you have a being that is dependent on you now and for the rest of your god-given life. At month two, Mac at the ball out of our computer mouse. Shortly thereafter, he ate an entire pack of cigarettes, a bar of soap, and an advertised “indestructible” dog toy. Each of these ingestions landed us at the emergency vet with the bills piling like a blizzard. This pattern has not stopped, and he is entering the latter part of his life. Many days, I have tuned in to Cesar Milan, “The Dog Whisperer” on Direct tv for some guidance and direction. Cesar Milan can surely perform miracles with canine-behavior, and I often wonder what our life would be like with his help. Maybe this month we would not be replacing the staircase he has gnawed to bits or the sofa pillows he annihilated into piles of feather and down.