Dogs

There's lots of people in my neighborhood with dogs. Almost everyone has a pet, but most of the people have dogs. Two of my neighbors in particular have very nice and friendly dogs. Chet, my neighbor to the left, has a cute little dog that he takes care of and loves alot. Gary, the guy across the street from me, has a dog too. Gary doesn't take very good care of his dog, though.


Chet always takes his dog out for walks, and lets him run freely through his yard, and chase squirrels and other animals around. Gary leaves his dog in an outside pen which is about the same size as my bathroom. I don't think he cleans it out but once a year, and his dog is always restless and cooped up. I feel bad for him sometimes. I think he might be jealous of Chet's dog since he is always seeing him run around in the yard across the street.


Just recently Gary bought one of those electric collars that shocks a dog when they try to run in to the street. After we finally told Gary that his dog needs to be let out more, he went the route which required the least effort on his part. We told him that the shocks hurt very badly, and that he should feel what it's like before putting it on his own pet, but he declined. Gary's dog could run around now, but if he ever went to far, he would fall to a shivering lump on the grass and just shake before standing up on wobbly legs.


One Sunday afternoon both dogs were out in their owner's respective lawns. A cat from a house down the street (Ms. Petersen I think it was) came running down the middle of the street. Chet's dog made a bee-line for it immediately, and was running way too fast for Chet to catch up. Gary's dog likewise took off, but after about ten feet he was well past his safe zone, and immediately crumpled to the ground. Since he was outside of the safe zone, he continued to get shocked. It wouldn't stop until he returned to the lawn. Chet's dog was still running after the cat. Then in the span of about three seconds, an SUV which avoided a stop sign ran right over Chet's dog, leaving it lying motionless on the pavement.


Chet's dog was bleeding and dead, and Gary's dog was being electrically tortured and alive. Chet ran to his dog, but immediately saw it was a lost cause. His dog was gone as soon as the SUV hit it. He ran over the Gary's dog, ripped the electric collar off, glared at Gary's house, and then let go of the dog. The dog ran back to his pen, where he would spend the remainder of his dog years - cooped up and (if at all possible for a dog) insane. Chet buried his dog in his backyard after giving is a proper funeral. There's even a little tombstone and everything.


Gary's dog always used to stare at Chet's dog, and I never knew what it was. I always thought it was jealousy. I always knew deep down that he wished he could be as free as that dog, to run around wherever he pleased. I wonder, does he still feel that way? Is Gary's dog the lucky one to be safe from danger, yet nearly imprisoned? Are the few years of joy that Chet's dog possessed more than Gary's dog's worth of life? Sometimes I ask myself, knowing the outcome beforehand, which dog I would rather be at birth. Would I bet Chet's dog, knowing that I'd die sooner than expected, but free for the period of life living? Or would I be Gary's dog, who I know would live a long life, but also one more or less entombed within a pen of wire mesh, too afraid to move out in to a world where the fear of danger is worse than death itself.


Which dog would you be?

Which dog are you?