When I was a boy, I had several dogs. My first dog was a Cocker Spaniel, I called him Billy Boy. That was close to sixty years ago and I can still recall his sparkling eyes and loving mannerism. One of the worst days of my boyhood life was when Billy Boy caught one of the cars he loved to chase. My mother tried to break him of the habit but was unsuccessful. We lived on a then country road where cars would often reach speeds inappropriate for the size of the road and training dogs was much different in the 1950's than today. After the accident, my dad took Billy Boy and I down to the corner of our 1-1/2 acre lot and we buried him at the foot of the corner marker post on our property. To this day, I can walk to his grave even though it is no longer marked. I ended up loosing several dogs to that road, but none of them was as heartfelt as the loss of Billy Boy.
After I was discharged from the Army in 1969, having been recently married, my new wife and I decided to get a dog. Of course being married meant it had to be a joint decision on the type and size of dog that we would purchase and after much elimination we decided on a Pomeranian. Now a Pom would not have been my personal first choice, but it was a cute dog if not a little fragile. Once the decision had been made, we trotted off to buy our Pom and we found a beautiful little dog with reddish black hair and fell immediately in love. This was such a good natured dog and it ended up going along every place we went. We would take the dog into any store that we could, on every vacation, even to visit other folks. We had a BMW Touring bike and we made a carrying bag out of an army bag and made it so it could be strapped around the wife's waist. The dog would ride between us as we traveled on that BMW all over the eastern US with nothing sticking out of the bag but the dogs head. Because of the dog's color we called him Coke. Coke lived about 12 years and died of complications. We bought a dog casket and buried him in our back yard. Now that house is a dentists office, but the back yard is still there and so is Coke.
In between Billy Boy and Coke, I had a few other dogs, and even a few since, but none were as special. I suppose largely because of the times, or who knows why. That is until now. Two years ago I purchased a Dachshund. His name is Rocky. Now Rocky is the first dog I have had in probably around 20 years. I've been retired for a while now and one day while were walking around a local flea market looking for a number 12 billiard ball, we found a lady selling puppies. Two of these puppies were dachshunds. I spotted Rocky and couldn't peel my eyes off him to even look at the other dogs. I asked my wife, who had previously been adamant at banning dogs in our house, and seeing the desire in my eyes she conceded and said, "you have to take care of him". Rocky was a rescue dog and came with papers, and upon hearing this, I peeled off $300.00 and gave it to the girl as I asked for a box to get him home in.
On the way home, Rocky pooped on my lap in the box, a preview of coming events. We like to tell people we went looking for a billiard ball and came home with a screw ball. After getting him home we decided we should raise him correctly and thought that obedience school was the correct way to go. It didn't take long to find out that obedience school is training for the owners and not the dog. We did learn much and this could be part of the reason we feel about Rocky the way we do, or perhaps it is just his personality. It has taken quite some time for us to train the Rock, but it has been well worth the effort as Rocky has become a member of our family. We take him most places we go and he loves to go for rides in the car. He also loves to go on vacation although we now do it in a travel trailer. He is a treat and I catch him from time to time laying at my feet, although he would rather be on your lap. However, it is the lying at my feet that has brought me to write this little story. My dad always told me that a dog that lies at your feet is the best dog. I have never before had a dog that has done this like Rocky and therefore did not know what he meant. Now, at this late date, I think I understand. A dog that lies on your lap may be doing it for many reasons, comfort, warmth, security, etc. A dog that lies at your feet has formed an attachment, he isn't there for comfort, warmth or security, he's there because he wants to be with you, he's attached. I know this now because it just fits, it's the way it is. My Dad was right about that, but then, he was right about a lot of things.
