CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS
DOG STORIES I HEARD AT THE CAFÉ
Occasionally I have the opportunity to eat breakfast at a local cafe’. Below is part one of a conversation held there one morning. To read part two click on Dog Stories I Told at the Café
Border collies are not bred like other dogs—good breeders take into consideration the dog’s temperament and ancestry, according to a woman I’ll call Dot.
My friend (whom I’ll call Vivian) and I were breakfasting at a local café and talking to a woman at an adjacent table.
“My border collie (I’ll call him Wicked) was vicious,” said Dot. “I never had a vicious dog before. Even the ghost whisperer I called was appalled.”
Dot went on to say that Wicked was bred from a nine-year-old, which she never saw when she purchased Wicked from the breeder.
“They never let us near the mother. We were told she was cranky.”
“Mother dogs are frequently that way,” said Vivian.
“This is our fifteen-year-old cat’s third dog, and it doesn’t like Wicked,” continued Dot. “The dog can’t figure it out.”
The conversation then switched to the intelligence of German shepherd dogs. I interjected a comment on a dog of this breed that I befriended during my regular walks when I lived in Connellsville, Pennsylvania.
“He was so vicious,” I said. “Even though he was chained in his yard and behind a metal link fence, I was afraid of him. I felt he could break the chain and jump the fence. But I slowly tamed him with dog biscuits until he anxiously awaited my arrival. When he heard me coming he barked welcomingly.”
“I hate to see a German shepherd tied up,” said Vivian. “We had one that we could send outside to fetch something. He’d open the door, fetch the item, return to the house and close the door behind him.”
“(Someone) had a German shepherd that could count,” said Dot. “He would see ten cheerios in one palm of the hand, and tap out the correct number in the person’s other palm. Even taking away some he would tap out the remaining number correctly.”
“Our German shepherd saved us from catastrophe a couple of times,” said Vivian. “This happened when someone tried to break into our house.”
The conversation was done in a sharing, not a one-upmanship, manner.
Then Vivian turned to me and said “If you had a pet, you could tell a story too.”
“I had a Border collie at one time,” I said. “I have stories too.”
(to read the remaining conversation, click on Dog Stories I Told at the Café)
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ADDITIONAL READING:
WHAT RIGHTS DO CATS HAVE, I ASK
Honey’s Coming Home! Our cat must recuperate
Honey went home—She’s romping in animal heaven
The “Meow” Chorus: A cat symphony on a Greyhound Bus
