A Dog I know

There’s a husky at the end of my road who has done exactly what his owner wanted him too, lived a long while, never wandered off, and was not an imposition.  To keep him cool during the day and safe from pests his owner shaves his beautiful coat, leaving him naked.   Since the owner feeds himself first, the dog is very thin.  Often he eats so little that he has to rely on his own vomit or his owners trash to get by.  The owner doesn’t believe in over feeding him, for fear that he might get fat, get a disease or cancer or become too strong fast or energetic to be kept within the yard.  The Dog is kept on a very short leash tied to a heavy metal chain that has almost become unbearable to carry, but the owner keeps it on him to have him safe, so he can’t escape and run away. As result, the dog doesn’t move much, but when he does he drags the chain in a circle around the yard, completely stripping it of the grass that once made it so pretty. The collar is a bit tight too, out of fear that it might slip off, so it rubs and chafes his bare skin around his neck.   The dog is quite lethargic, having no energy from food and carrying that heavy chain in the hot sun.  He’d prefer to do nothing, would rather sleep than explore, rather ignore things than bark a warning to his owner.

There is a time when he makes an exception though.  If a person walks on the sidewalk and hits a certain point where he must consider it his turf, he suddenly jumps up and runs all the way to the end of his leash like a rocket, only to be choked and jerked back to earth.  despite the choking, he does it over and over, defending the spot.  He’ll ignore cars, kids, people, birds, cats and the whole world.  But if someone steps on the spot that he thinks is his, that he has to protect, things change fast.  As a result of his treatment, the animal has developed quit a temperament.  When he attacks it comes out in barks, quick short ones, always saying and relying on the same thing to get his point across.  He sounds the exact same as other dogs who are treated this way, yapping and yapping, barking and barking nonsensically, never really saying anything.   I’m sure you  know the sound.  This dogs bark sounds very familiar to me,  since I walk past this him on my way to church.