Feeding your Canine Companion

2005 Annual Report
Please click here to view the Sequoia Humane Society's 2005 Annual Report (PDF)

Vets who support SHS Spay/Neuter Drives Sunny Brae Animal Clinic 900 Buttermilk Lane Arcata, CA 95521 822-5124 Eureka Veterinary Hospital 4433 Broadway, Eureka 442-4885 Animal Health & Surgery Center 1257 Riverwalk Drive, Fortuna 725-6154 Myrtle Avenue Veterinary Hospital 2715 Hubbard Lane, Eureka 443-8686 Ferndale Veterinary 1140 Van Ness Ave., Ferndale 786-4200 McKinleyille Animal Care Ctr 839-1504

I was out shoveling the snow the other day when the man with the three legged dog came by. I see him and his strange companion out walking practically every day, but this was the first chance I’d had to speak with him.

He approached the place on the sidewalk I was cleaning, and when we were close enough to pass a conversation I stopped shoveling and said hello. He returned the greeting, and so did his dog, jumping up and down at the end of his leash. I launched right into the topic at hand, “What’s the dog’s name?” He looked down at his little friend and then back to me and said, “Christmas.”

I asked him what the connection was, expecting to get the standard tale about getting the dog as a Christmas present. But he told me a story that bears repeating.

He said, “Well, I’ve been trying to teach him to stop barking and dancing all over the place whenever he sees a new face or hears the doorbell ring. Doesn’t matter who it is. Mailman, paperboy, even a stranger. He just gets excited whenever somebody comes his way. And you should see him when I’m preparing his food. He parades around like it’s the first time he’s had anything to eat.”

I nodded and said, “Tough habit to break, I imagine.” He shrugged. “I’ll say. But you know something? We have these domestic pets all wrong. We think we’re supposed to teach them all kinds of things, and I’m getting to think that it’s the other way around. What’s wrong with a little excitement over meeting somebody new? And who wouldn’t be grateful for a good meal every day? I tell you, this dog has taught me more about the Christmas spirit than any other living thing. And he’s got this spirit all year round, not just a few days in the middle of winter. So I call him Christmas. That way I remember what he’s here for, even in July.”

We said our goodbyes and he went on his way. I never did ask him about the missing leg.— written by Jay Stetzer

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