Spot

Do not be deceived by the apparent warm and friendly demeanor of the dogs in this picture. They did not like each other, and the retriever is an interloper in Spot's domain. But for the sake of the peace in the home, an accomodation, a temporary truce has been declared.

The truth is, Cinna, the visitor, rather liked everyone or every creature. But Spot liked very few people and even fewer animals. I believe that Spot was not a nice dog, in the estimation of many who knew him. But he was my dog.

And how did that come to be? My youngest son, Ken, was in fourth grade. Some charitable organization or other sponsored a "Bikeathon" and we allowed the child to participate. When we went to the school to pick him up after the event, we found that all the kids had returned. Except for Ken and one girl who was his classmate. So we waited. And waited. Then, just as we were about ready to launch a search effort, we saw two bicycles rounding the corner at the end of the block. The kids had returned. But they each were cuddling and holding close-- a puppy.

Seems that beside the road in the barrow pit were these puppies that someone had tossed out; and these tender-hearted, if misguided, youngsters undertook to "rescue" them. "Can I keep him? Hunh? Can I, Hunh?" Well, Softy relented, on the condition that the child would care for the beast, feed him, water him, pick up after him, etc., etc. And you know how that worked out, and thus I had a dog.

Spot bonded to me and to the boy; but very few other people were considered by him to be worthy of the effort it would require for him to treat them nicely. In fact, he was pretty much a one-boy, one-man dog.

Spot became a very protective animal, guarding his people and his property faithfully, and visciously, one might even say. I have admitted in a post quite some time ago that he would bite, so I cannot attempt to mask that fact now. He eventually turned into the beautiful 55-pound creature depicted above.

I loved old Spot. I have numerous tales about him. From time to time, I will share a bit about this beast.

(I found the picture as I was shuffling through some old snapshots, and rather than fire up the equipment to scan properly, I simply threw the photo down on the desktop and snapped a picture of the picture. Oh, you could tell by looking? The third dog in the picture will be accounted for at a later date.)