Canine Advantage

We don't have a dog. Not because we don't like dogs, because we do. In fact, a dog is in our 5 year plan. Well, maybe 10 year plan. I grew up with a dog, so did Craig. Dogs are wonderful for teaching your children about responsibility, compassion, patience, love; I could go on and on. Aside from the hair and expense of having a dog, they really are wonderful creatures. We don't have a dog because we don't have room in our hearts or calendar for a dog. We know that.

Why, then, do so many people have dogs who do not care for them like they deserve? I'm sitting here listening to a dog barking outside. It's the same dog that stays outside around the clock in the summer and barks all night long. The same dog who I have never seen outside of her backyard. This dog lives at the same house where the grass is never mowed, the garage door paint is faded and peeling, the driveway isn't shoveled in the winter. I've never seen the owner, only heard her when she screams at the dog from her bedroom window at night to, "shut-up!". There's a swingset in the backyard that sits just beyond the tall cedars. I've never seen any children playing on it. There's a dirt path beaten into the overgrown grass that runs along the fence line but I know it's not from children's feet.

I ache for this poor dog. She deserves a much better life than the one she has.