If you have a dog, think about a friend for it

The last time I wrote, I talked about a local dog, that belonged to a local doctor that flew with him in his plane. The smart and talented young dog flies with his owner, you probably guessed it, Dr. Neil Berry and his wife Elsie. 

The dog, named Laddie has his own headset and seatbelt in Dr. Berry’s plane. I had a couple of pictures but misplaced them. However I will post them on here hopefully the next time I write. 

This getting old, causes me to forget a lot of things, like where I put things, and many more daily things I have to do. But I guarantee you will just love the pictures of Laddie. 

Dr. and Mrs. Berry didn’t want their names mentioned in my article about their wonder dog but a lot of people figured it out and it went viral on Facebook. So they said I could mention them this time, so that others could enjoy hearing about their precious little dog. It’s the cutest thing I have ever seen. I know they are proud of him. I know I am.

So many people include their animals in their everyday life. Some people take it to a whole new level by teaching them to do the craziest things like diving off of a diving board. I have seen people teach their dogs to dance. They just turn on some music and off they go to the middle of the room and dance. Sometimes the owner will dance with their dogs. Its so funny. 

I have seen dogs that ride on bikes with their owners and some that ride in a sidecar while the owner rides their motorcycle. Of course the dog had his helmet on. 

I use to have a dog that would go tubing down the Brazos River with me. She just sat in my lap and I would navigate the tube downstream. 

I have also seen a couple of dogs on television that would actually say, “I love you.” It was a little rough sounding, but it was amazing, and you could hear it very clear. I actually taught one of my dogs to do it. You want to talk sweet? That was sweet! 

I have even seen farmers out on their tractors with their dog sitting with them. 

I guess what I’m trying to say is that you get out what you put into an animal. People, years back use to think that dogs were like hood ornaments or something. Everyone had one, all the kids wanted one, yet they never really looked at them like they were any more that. 

As years passed, people saw more to them than that and started paying more attention to them. Although there were many groups of people who raised different breeds and knew how smart they were and loving, the majority of the population did not. 

Nowadays, because of all the animal rights people and other groups that help and save animals, people are taking notice. 

I will tell you this and it comes from the bottom of my heart — Animals have souls. Look into their eyes and tell me I’m wrong. 

I tell my grandbabies, that they have feelings like we do. They hurt like we do and they love like we do. They just got into a different body than we did, and because of that, they have had to stay unnoticed, so to speak. But that’s changing, and I am so happy. 

Take time to love your dog. Look into its eyes and see what you see. Give them a hug. Take them for a ride. And also just as important, is if you only have one dog, please adopt a shelter dog. A dog that lives alone, can be so lonely. And that itself can shorten a dog’s life.

When Dr. and Mrs. Berry came to my house to looked at our litter of puppies, their main reason for coming was that they had an old dog named Scout. Scout was I think about 12 years old and he moped around the house and yard. 

The Berry’s thinking and mine was that if they got a younger dog perhaps it would keep Scout’s life going a little longer. And indeed it did. 

Elsie called me over to their house one day to watch them. Laddie would run outside around their pool and right behind him running was Scout. They would play and wrestle around. But most of all they would lay by each other and clean each other up. They truly loved each other. 

Scout lived 3 more years. The Berrys know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was because Scout had another dog to play with. One that would keep him running and keep him healthy. 

What I’m trying to say is if you have a dog, think about getting a friend for it. Think about a shelter dog first. 

The shelter here is full right now. Dan Fowler is the animal control officer, and he is the nicest man. He would love to show you the dogs out there. 

 And I’m sure once you look at those cute faces and realize that you could save a life, you will.