BUY ONE DOG, GET ONE FREE
One dog isn’t enough. When I walk around Horseshoe Lake by my house, I see a lot of people with two dogs.
On my last walk, I saw five people with two dogs, and one schnook with a schnauzer.
My family was a one-dog family for 13 years. This was before the two-dogs-are-mandatory rule in the Heights. My family’s dog, Sammy, was a meshugenner who liked to play in traffic and bark a lot.
Sammy
I Hate Barking Dogs was my bumper sticker, so I had a problem. The barking dog was my dog; I couldn’t call the cops.
The other day I called my cousin Howard in Colorado; he told me he had been up since 5 a.m. because of barking dogs.
My wife, Alice, is bugged by our neighbors’ barking dogs.
We have new neighbors on the other side. The day they moved in, I said, “Give me the bad news. How many dogs do you have?”
The neighbor said, “None. My daughters are allergic to dogs.” I couldn’t believe it. Even if he turns his house into a crack den, I’m ahead.
Years ago –- when I lived on Oak Road — I approached a neighbor and said, “Your dog is barking.”
The woman stared at me, at her dog (who was yapping 24/7 on a chain in her backyard) and said, “No, he isn’t.”
She didn’t “hear” the dog barking, and she certainly didn’t hear me.
Our dog, Sammy, was a standard poodle. Supposedly poodles are smart and non-allergenic. Doubtful on both counts.
My kids in particular loved Sammy, who died exactly when the youngest kid went off to college.
I knew the pediatrician John Kennell. He should have had two dogs. Him. Nobody else.
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This clip is “Critters” . . .
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Yiddishe Cup plays tonight (Wed. 4/25) at Fairmount Temple, 6:40 p.m., Beachwood, Ohio. Free. The community-wide Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration.
4 comments
PERFECT reveal of the sammy photo
My late cousin Larry Leveson, who was a veterinarian in Niagara Falls for many decades, had two dogs with his wife. I recall one was called Martini. They were treated extremely well and my parents used to say “they are in dog heaven” living with the Levesons.
The guy had an extremely successful practice. He went to Cornell for his vet. medicine degree. Originally went out to farms but eventually had plenty of business in the city so gave it up. Later had house in Arizona and penthouse condo in the Falls.
I see you’re “doing your thing” at Fairmount this evening. We’ll be there.
I forgot to say Larry was another one who SHOULD have two dogs….
great dog story — nobody can hear their own dog bark. It’s some sort of audio anomaly.
And what about the pooping? I had a dog my entire childhood — got her when I was five and she, too, died just as I went off to college. Did I ever walk around with a bag of poop? No. We went out to play. She pooped.
I recently spent several weeks in Providence taking care of my cousin’s city dogs and I soon realized that folks would look down their noses at me unless I carried the BLUE plastic bag of poop — meaning that it was a NYTimes bag. oy vay. But I digress. Thanks for yet another delightful essay journey!
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