An account of early notable dogs at Comfort Island has been covered previously, but in 1995 Coty, Tori and Kira mounted a campaign to acquire a family dog. They teamed up against me after an island neighbor began selling a litter of Yellow Labrador puppies. I held out while they sold most of the puppies, but when the owners offered to give us one late in the season, the pro-dog crusade picked up steam with all the classic rhetoric, “Please Daddy, pretty please. We’ll take care of it. We’ll feed it and take it for walks. We’ll brush him and give him baths. You’ll see you won’t have to do a thing.”
The team was relentless and finally I said, “Okay.” Because I’d made and broken the same promises when I was a kid, I had no doubt that it wouldn’t be long before the responsibilities would be Kira’s and mine.
Unfortunately, I never had a chance to see if my children would live up to their promises because our new dog had ingested some twine before we owned him, and a few weeks later we were forced to put little “Sunny” to sleep. It was a very sad experience for the whole family, and we were all in agreement that we’d have to replace Sunny with one of his relatives.
We contacted the appropriate breeder in Wisconsin, and several weeks later “Woody” arrived at the Asheville air terminal where I picked him up. He was only eight weeks old and groggy from being sedated for the flight when I aired him on the grass adjacent to the terminal. I thought to myself, “What a calm and mellow puppy.” I have seldom been more wrong in my initial assessment of any critter before or since.
It turned out that we had just become the dumbfounded owners of the most energetic dog I ever owned. I theorized that he could run the Iditarod Dogsled Race all by h...
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...f the best features of having Woody at Comfort Island was that he could run as much as he wanted without us having to worry about him running off. I did have to discourage him from swimming after ducks a couple of times, but he learned to avoid the swift currents when he wasn’t on shore.
He was a powerful dog and he could accelerate up steep slopes that we had trouble scaling at any speed. He loved to ride in the boat, and Coty, Tori and their friends would throw the ball for him endlessly.
He wanted to greet folks by jumping up on them, and it was necessary to restrain him vigilantly when elderly guests came to visit. He would sometimes try to jump on or into a boat that arrived at the dock, which was scary if it was a valuable wooden boat. It was no wonder that during Woody’s tenure most callers came in their workboat rather than their Sunday go-to-meeting boat.
First Friend: A History of Dogs and Humans, by Katherine Rogers, articulates the history of the relationship between dogs and humans. Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals, by Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce, investigates if and how dogs exhibit morality. In both texts, anecdotes and observations are used to portray instances of dogs displaying cooperation, empathy, altruism, and, by extension, morality. Consequently, it stands to reason that dogs have a capacity for sociality, but how can the sociality of dogs be described? A dog’s capacity for sociality is the ability to form long term relationships with members of the same or other species. Dogs, in particular, dogs who hunt as well as dogs who play, are able to form long term relationships with humans and other dogs through trust, love,
Dogs are common throughout the world, either as a domestic pet, a protector on a farm, or an assistant for hunting amongst others. Regardless of the reason for having a dog, most people have either owned one for themselves or have known somebody who has owned one at some point in their life. Despite the relative normality of having a dog in your life in one way or another, the reasons for dogs coming into existence are not common knowledge among most people. Throughout a great portion of mankind’s history, dogs have been an essential part of life. The truth is, dogs were actually created in part by man.
In 1961, Dr. Boris Levinson, a child psychologist, became the “accidental” pioneer for animal therapy. One day he left his dog, Jingles, alone with one of his young, uncommunicative patients. When Dr. Levinson came back, the child was smiling and talking to the dog (Altschiller 3). This just shows how quick and monumental the effect of an animal can be. He believed that therapy animals provided, “unconditional acceptance and love” and they offered “a secure and warm environment for children and other patients, increasing their ability to adapt better psychologically to other people”...
1938-1941 His first dog was an English Shepard named Rex, who was a one man dog and his constant traveling companion. Beginning at about age three, he and his dog Rex had an insatiable desire to explore any place that was outside the house and within walking distance. Since both his mother and dad worked long hours at their respective jobs, he had a daytime black maid whose name was Sanctum. Every time Sanctum would turn her back he and his dog would “run off” and poor Sanctum would telephone his mother and in dismay advise her that “Sonny” had run off again. Since Elkhart had a population of about five hundred, most of the citizens had learned to keep a lookout for this wandering boy. When he was spotted by one of the townsfolk, they would call his mother and tell her of his doings and location. His mother would leave her work, go get him, give him a spanking, and return him to the house and Sanctum. This could happen several times a day. One particular incident that wasn’t revealed to his mother until years later was when he climbed the Elkhart water tower (75 ft.). Some of the townspeople coaxed him down with the promise of candy. His mother, who finally realized that “spanking” was not a deterrent to “running off”, put him in bed for twenty four hours after one of his ventures and would not let him get up although he begged for a spanking instead. H...
Kristin found out that Bea was from a laboratory and decided to give her a loving home. In the first years of Bea’s life she was mute, pathologically fearful, and terrorized from the trauma she experienced for the laboratories. She even shook when someone approached her, and rolled over and urinated every time a man was around. When Kristin would take Bea to the vet she would shake uncontrollably with fear. This just goes to show how the trauma from these animal laboratories effects the animals. Luckily, from the love and care from Kristin Bea transformed into a healthy dog without fear of her new owners or veterinarians. This story shows that these animals need love, attention, and care that they are clearly not getting at the laboratories. (Williams, and
Sweeney, Michael S. Dog Tips from Dogtown: A Relationship Manual for You and Your Dog. Washington, D.C: National Geographic, 2010. Print.
It is around this time that it becomes difficult to put dogs into our typical categories of nature and culture, because although dogs were originally just another part of nature, when we began to domesticate them, we made them something more. In fact, in modern days it is even more difficult as we have begun actively breeding them for specific traits, so much so that many would argue modern dogs are essentially technology. From this it becomes clear how perfectly dogs fit into her idea of a companion
The first ten minutes were like any other. Let Winston out and let him run around for a bit. But then out of nowhere, he started barking like crazy. I ran over to him, flashlight on and machete in hand. He was barking at something down the hill. I kept telling him to calm down, but he wouldn’t. Then he took off down the hill at what seemed like lightspeed. I yelled for him to come back. I started to run after him. I really didn’t want to go down there, but I really loved that dog. I ran down the hill, trying my hardest not to trip.
Thesis Statement: While most owners are aware of the amount of joy and laughter dogs bring to them and their family, they are unaware that their dogs love them unconditionally and can help them have better lives
wolf and very mean. He would bully the other dogs. Buck hated him and one day
As a kid, I fell in love with the idea of getting a puppy for Christmas. Wrapped in a small box with a bow on top sitting under the tree just like the movies and tv shows I had seen. I can remember making a Christmas list of all the things I wanted that year, and every year the same thing that I wanted had said “puppy” with it underlined so that my mother knew which was my favorite on the list. Every year no surprise, I didn’t find a dog. I never understood why I never received one. When the kids at school talked about the few dogs they had at home made me so jealous, but I hoped that one day it would be me to have my own best friend at home.
Armbruster, K. (2002). “Good Dog”: The stories we tell about our canine companions and what they mean for humans and other animals, 38 (4), 351, 26. Retrieved from http://www.siue.edu/PLL/
“A dog is a man’s best friend” goes much deeper than the phrase might initially imply. Recently many medical journals have begun to identify with the many and varied benefits of pet ownership. Men have always relied upon animals for work, transportation, and survival. As times have changed, man has begun to appreciate a different bond with animals. Gone are the days of animals running free outside around the homestead, for now animals are allowed inside and are considered by many to be an integral part of our daily lives! Medical studies have found that animals have a much greater intelligence level than originally thought. Through proper training and experience, animals are not only household pets, but also are becoming an accepted form of medical treatment.
“That dog is so futile! All he does is sniff, bark, and whine! I can’t tolerate with such a dog!” I sighed to myself as my beagle, Puddles, circumnavigated around me, twitching his tail. I pushed him away and perambulated off to my room. I am not friends with animals, and even though I live on an old farm with my grandfather and grandmother, animals are not one of my interests. Puddles, was an old dog but with much energy. He was constantly jumping up and down on people with his muddy, and feculent paws.
The dog also allowed the child to occasionally take out anger on it, even when no reason was given. The dog played a safe haven that allowed the boy to believe things would get better shown here: “When misfortune came upon the child, and his troubles overwhelmed him, he would often crawl under the table and lay his small distressed head on the dog’s back. The dog was ever sympathetic”(Crane, "A Dark Brown Dog"). The story eventually ends with the dog’s death by the hands of the child’s father here: “The father of the family paid no attention to these calls of the child, but advanced with glee upon the dog. He rolled over on his back and held his paws in a peculiar manner.