My Dog

There are times that I am so glad that we have a dog, and there are times that I think how much simpler life would be without her. We like to travel and when we do, we have to kennel her. I had no idea when we adopted her how much we would end up spending just on kennels! While she is a lot of work and an extra expense, there are times like tonight when I am so glad that we have her and am so proud of her. This evening while waiting for hubby to come home from work, I was supervising my favorite toddler playing in his little swimming pool when the dog began barking very insistently and persistently at something. I didn’t see anything unusual in the direction she was barking, so assuming that it was a bunny-rabbit or some other such creature which had her so worked up, I told her to be quiet. She kept barking until I came to see exactly what she was barking at. As soon as I spotted it, she quieted down, but almost nudged me to look closer. I am not exactly sure what the cause was, but in our next-door neighbor’s yard, very close to their deck, smoke was beginning to rise from the grass next to a mostly burnt-out stump. My neighbors may have been just inside their door, but we couldn’t see them at all. My dog wanted me to be aware that a potential fire was beginning. Like I said, I am not sure whether a stray cigarette butt of my neighbor’s caught some grass on fire or whether they are working on finishing burning out the stump and were just inside supervising. Either way, I congratulated my dog for a job well done, kept the hose handy just in case, and stayed out there until all traces of smoke were gone. It’s nice to know that even before I recognized any danger, my dog was keeping an eye out and helping to take care of both my son and I.