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Nice reprieve from pet may be short-lived

T.J. Burnham 1, Editor, Western Farmer-Stockman

September 3, 2014

3 Min Read

We've rescued our share of doggies, but now that Shadow, Mitzi, Crumpets, Clancy and Arya have gone to either dog heaven or St. Louis, I can feel the little nudges for yet another replacement animal.

When our latest, Arya, had to leave with my grandchildren to move to St. Louis, it was a mixed blessing. On one hand we were free from the dominating 55-pound whatever-she-is burden/blessing. Yet, we are living in a house dog-free.

That seems just wrong on a lot of levels, since we usually like having a loyal spoiled tail-wagging family member present. Yet, living without a dog means no vet bills, nothing to worry about when we go on trips, and great savings in feed.

While we have decided not to even consider another dog right now, Sally has been surfing the dog sites and dropping hints like hot lead. I am holding off, pretending not to hear her when she talks about cute Doxies she has looked at on her iPad.

What I want is a little time dogless to recover from the responsibilities of owning mutts. But when we have friends posting pictures of their darlings, and neighbors who have taken ownership of a new canine, the dog undertow gets hard to ignore.

Sure, I know there is another one of those furry best friends in the future, and I do miss having a dog around. Still, let's wait until, say, after Christmas?

What keeps me from running out to the Humane Society and picking up a nice lap pup is perhaps mostly my heart.

I had it broken so many times with the dogs that decided to run over the rainbow, and when Arya left for St. Louis, I missed her so much on my walks that when Elvis came on my headset singing about Old Shep, I actually teared up.

Who needs that?

The heartbreak of animal mortality occurs so many times in our lives, simply because the darned dogs live shorter lives than we do.

We've got ashes of two of them in the garden with little look-alike monuments, and the thought of planting a third  is really a lot to ask.

But, it will go like this: Sally will continue hounding me, and finally I will tell her I will do it for her.

Wait! Isn't that just a lie, since I'd like a dog, too?

Just not right now.

People tell us there are lots of homeless dogs out there who  we can rescue. Pictures in the newspaper show this week's adoptable adorables. I get ASPCA mail begging me to become a pet people again.

Agggggghhhh!  Give me a break!

God forbid some stray wanders into our yard. I am sure it would be an ugly dog, but we'd probably find it hard to leave it at the kennel if it were not claimed in a week or so. We've got this thing about a dog  touching our doorstep and never, ever turning it away if it is not owned.

I think I'll put out a dog trap in the front yard. Just a little pit filled with filet mignon, that might catch a critter before it reaches our door. I could just scoop it up and take it to the pond.

I hope Sally won't be watching.                                       

About the Author(s)

T.J. Burnham 1

Editor, Western Farmer-Stockman

T.J. Burnham has covered western agriculture for 42 years. A University of Michigan journalism program grad, he worked for The Sacramento Bee for 15 years before moving into specialty farm magazine writing. He has been on the Farm Progress staff for 10 years.

"A lot of my uncles back in Michigan were farmers, but my interest was primarily to become a hot shot city desk reporter. Once I was given a job at the Bee on the metro desk, they told me that they’d hired too many new reporters, and half of us had to go. However, they said there was an opening in the newspaper’s ag division, and if I worked there until the probationary period was over, I could be reassigned to general reporting. I took the job, but by the time the probation period was ended, I found I enjoyed covering ag so much that I never asked to go back to the city side.”

T.J. joined Farm Progress as a California Farmer reporter, then became editor of the Western Farmer-Stockman. He has earned a reputation in the West as a strong source of direct seed information, and has affiliated Western Farmer-Stockman as the official magazine of the Pacific Northwest Direct Seed Association.

His wife, Sally, writes for the magazine and helps with bookwork concerning freelance writers from the eight western state arena which the magazine serves.

T.J. likes hiking and fishing, and dabbles in woodworking projects. He also enjoys gardening and photography.

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