Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Redneck eye for the liberal guy

I'm such a closet redneck. Honestly. I should have my own TV show. Redneck eye for the liberal guy. "Here, try this Polaris snowmobile jacket on!" And then I'd go through the cupboards and throw everything out. "What the heck!? Tea! I'm afraid we're gonna have to get you some Folgers!"

At least my neighbors are honest with themselves, but they are very suspicious of me. "We seen you aint got no dog?..." They all have at least one dog imprisoned in the back yard. When I ride my bike out of my neighborhood I notice. House dog. House dog. House dog dog. House dog.... and so on.

I've notice that most of these people don't ever do anything with their dogs. They don't walk them. The vast majority, if not all of the dog's life is spent just living in the back yard, with little or no social interaction. There are a few good dog owners, but for the most part my neighbors neglect these pitiful animals.

My neighbors directly behind me never walk their dogs. There is a strange relationship between these people and their dogs that I don't understand and I've been watching their interaction for quite a while now. The woman comes out on her deck which is above the back yard and throws food or treats at the dogs from above, but I never see her go down and pet them or anything like that. The kids who are boys clean up the yard and do interact a little but it is forced. And yet they feel the need to have them in the back yard. I guess it somehow makes them complete. My assesment of their relationship, dogs to people, is dysfunctional. Infact, I think the realtionship they have people to people is dysfunctional. One time I was in my back yard and I saw the lady back there. They have a very nice Cherry tree that produces really nice cherries and they don't harvest them. (?) I said something to her about how perhaps she would have a good crop of cherries and the only thing she said to me was "one can only hope.". That's the only conversation I've ever had with her in several years. Perhaps it's just me.

At the same time they have control over their dogs. But I honestly don't get the point in them owning the dogs like that and relegating them to a life of back yard captivity, and that is exactly what it is. Imagine you are a dog. And you never get to leave the back yard for years and years. Ever. How strange is that? Well I'll tell you,..It's twisted. (sister)

I can see owning a dog if you want to walk it and have interaction, train it,go hunting with it, and enjoy it, but most,.. the vast majority of my neighbors just have prisoner dogs behind chain link, and interact with them on a very limited basis. That is the sad under-stated truth about dog ownership. At least in my neighborhood.

On another note, I've been looking for this month's cyber tree but I haven't found it yet. I am adding another cyber tree from my archives however (the photo above) I've also added another inside the bubble post. Pesto Pizza.

3 comments:

Megan said...

Sometimes I feel guilty for owning a dog. He is a country dog and has reign over acres and acres of land. I am pretty sure he eats dead animals, chases deer, and wonders all about while I am working hard to put dog food in his bowl.

I use to bring him to work everyday, but I sensed he was bored with that. I think he enjoyed the social interaction, but missed roaming.

At night we hang out together and our weekends are filled with mini-adventures. Now that it is warmer we will start taking trips to the pond so he can swim. I quit running with him because he was getting stiff and sore.

I don't know why I just felt the urge to justify my owning a dog!?! I will say that if I lived in an apartment or had to keep my dog in a house all day, I wouldn't own one.

don said...

I'm sure you aren't like these guys behind me. I'm sure Brown Dog is very happy.

There are lots of good dog owners even in my neighborhood. But there are a lot of prisoner dogs too.

This one guy moved in and then got a black lab. Bought one of those plastic igloo dog houses and there the dog is, day in and day out. In the corner of the yard.

Diane Lowe said...

The black lab is probably wondering why he's the butt of some cruel joke, forced to sit in an igloo all day.