Remembering My Quirky Dog

Last night we sat on the deck watching and listening to the rival fireworks shows going on in our neighbors’ backyards, well until the smoke from all those fireworks drove us inside. As Ron put it, “Canada has nothing on the Fourth of July.” What, can I say? It’s been a smoky summer.

As the fireworks boomed outside, I thought of all the dogs and other creatures freaking out over all the noise, and I thought of my own dog Jack, who has been gone a few years now.

Jack was one of those rare dogs that never was troubled by fireworks or thunderstorms. That is, he was never frightened of these things until in his later years when he lost his hearing, and then he became terrified of them. Yeah, I know it makes no sense to me either. Suffice it to say, Jack wasn’t like most dogs when it came to fears.

I remember one time when Jack and I were visiting my parents we took a walk on the golf course near their home. At one point in the path there’s an open grate bridge that goes over a small creek, and they warned me that it would probably freak Jack out as their dog Winston had always found the bridge very scary. Jack did not break stride or seem to even notice the obstacle.

This makes it sound like Jack was the bravest dog in the world, but I can assure you he was not. Many, many things freaked him out. Pretty high up there on the list was strangers touching him. This was not his jam. Probably related to this was his distaste for going to the vet. This is putting it mildly. The veterinarian TERRIFIED him. He thought stethoscopes were instruments of torture.

I don’t know if it counts as a fear exactly, but Jack would not eat treats unless we were at home. One time Jack and I walked with my parents to a popular ice cream shop. This was a place that sold doggy ice cream cups and my parents ordered one for Jack. Jack loved ice cream, and he probably would have loved to have eaten that ice cream if we were at home, but we were out in public, and there was no way he was touching that stuff. Once, when I had Jack out for a walk we stopped to say hi to a neighbor. One of my neighbor’s friends drove by and happened to carry dog biscuits in his car and wanted to give one to Jack, but of course we were out in public and there was no way Jack was going to eat that thing. So, it went in my pocket, and we kept on walking. When we walked a few more blocks and finally reached our backyard Jack gave my pocket a nudge. He hadn’t forgotten about the biscuit, and now that we were home it was safe to eat it.

What can I say? My dog was a bit of a weirdo, but hey, I make no claims to being normal, so I guess he wound up with the right person.

To all my fellow weirdos out there, I hope you too find your right person or people, and that like Jack that you always make time to play and have fun.

— Alissa