Pops and Dogs

Today would have been my Father's 78th birthday and in honor of this day, this blog is dedicated to him and his love of dogs. Pops never met a dog he didn't like but I have the one dog on the planet that did not like him laying right here beside me. Pops knew the nature of dogs and could tell if one was going to be a "good" dog or not just by being around it for about 15 minutes. Pops could also work with a dog for about 30 minutes and he could have it singing and dancing. David Letterman's "Stupid Pet Tricks" was created with my father in mind. Pops lifelong love affair with dogs began early on in life when he was training his own hunting dogs when he was about 7 years old. I was looking at some old family pictures taken when I was a young boy and in just about every picture there was either a family dog (usually a Poodle named Midnight) or one of my Dad's hunting dogs. When I got old enough to go bird hunting with my Father I made the conscious decision to not carry a gun because I did not believe in killing other living things (except a spider or a snake- there are exceptions to every rule) but I loved watching my dad work with his dogs. Towards the end of his life, the perfect day for him was one spent with his dogs. As I get later on in my life, I can see that he might be right.