Farewell to a good girl

A dog with a sunny disposition – not to mention a high IQ – is one family pet that won’t be forgotten

Sometimes, usually when my son is messing with a dog I like the look of – read: basically any dog – I half-heartedly mumble that we should get a dog. My heart is halved in these scenarios, because I don’t really mean it. For one thing, my wife is not on board. She is the only ethical vegetarian I’ve ever met who dislikes the company of animals intensely. Her disdain for mice and squirrels has gone remarked here before, but it extends to literally all of nature’s non-human creatures, dogs included. Dislike is a bit strong, it’s more that she gets a bit spooked around them and the threat that they might jump on her, touch her, lick her, or even sit quietly in her vicinity, surely plotting an attempt at the forementioned.

But there’s also the fact that I can’t imagine owning a dog in a city, since I grew up around country dogs, who experienced the kind of low-maintenance, high-freedom lifestyle that I couldn’t provide in our Hackney flat. Others do it wonderfully, but I don’t think I’m cut out for the job.

Continue reading...

from The Guardian https://ift.tt/35QRH2z
via
0 Comments