On Dogs

On Dogs:

I talked to Sovay a bit ago. She was complaining about James Dobson (sp?), whom she says is among the most important people in America.

"He said he had a dachshund pup who was sleeping by a warm radiator," she told me, "and he'd told the dog to move. But it was 'defiant,' so he picked up a switch and whipped it for an hour."

I'm not sure who this Dobson fellow is, but I hope he never comes down Georgia way if that story is true. Doing violence to a dog where I come from is the sort of offense that will get you in serious trouble.

Sovay was telling me about going to the dog park -- this is a nifty idea they have in Maryland that we should do more in various places, where you have in a public park a fenced-off section where the community's dogs can get together and run and play -- and a guy thought his dog was being knocked around by another. So he walked up to the other fellow's dog, picked it up, and threw it through the air.

"We all just left," she said. "He hasn't been back. Nobody was willing to deal with him after that."

I told her that, where I came from, if you picked up a man's dog and threw him through the air, you'd probably get yourself shot.

Sovay said she wouldn't murder anyone over such a thing.

"Not murder," I replied. "Where I come from, dogs are a part of the family."

Well, I suppose what matters in the end is that you achieve a common peace. If people understand the rules and abide by them, most of the time, I guess you've got what counts out of civilization.

All the same, I like our way better. You pick my dog or my child and throw him through the air, you'd best have your insurance paid.

But that's probably just me. I still think we should re-legalize duels.