Dog Days

Did you embiggen the picture below? That sour-looking young girl is my daughter. That picture was taken after a day at Disneyworld 19 years ago. She was almost two. We had gone to visit my brother Otter at his home in Florida.

Otter had this big chow that he loved like his kid. The dog was well behaved and lovable, as long as Otter was around. During our stay, Otter and his wife both had to work. One time while they were gone the doorbell rang. The wife grabbed the dog's collar and as we opened the door, the dog gave her the old buck and duck and he was out the door! I went after him, barefoot as usual. I forgot how hot asphalt gets in the July sun. Off we went, through yards, under bushes, across streets. I swear that damn dog was teasing me. He would stop and wait until I got close, then off he went again. Through apartment complexes, around the gas station, across the strip mall parking lot, down the median of the highway we ran. Sometimes, just for fun we would double back. That dog wanted to make sure all of Tampa knew I could not catch him. I finally got him turned back toward home.

I let the dog run through the apartment complex as I regrouped, and shod my swollen, blistered feet. The wife could not help me, we had a baby to tend. Finally after about three hours I got close enough to grab a handful of fur and then the collar. I have never wanted to kill an animal so bad. Unfortunately Otter was due home from work in a couple of minutes. Otter asked me later if we did anything exciting while he was at work. I swear that damn dog looked at me and grinned.