Dogs
By: Stan Denski
Photo By: Stan Denski
I never had a dog while I was growing up. Instead, I envied my friends who had a variety of dogs. There was always one kid who had the perfect dog. In my neighborhood it was a kid who had a German Shepherd named “King” who, it was rumored, did the kid’s math homework for him. Almost three years ago now my wife and I became the owners of two dogs. “Sock” is a black Lab mix, about 45 pounds, and gets his name from the presence of one white foot on his otherwise mostly black body. “Buster” is a 60 pound brindled American Staffordshire terrier, one of two breeds (the other is the American pit-bull terrier) lumped under the generic label “pit-bull.” Both of our dogs are friendly – we wouldn’t have a dog who wasn’t – and you will probably see us walking them through Irvington on a nice Summer or Fall afternoon. Feel free to pat their heads and give them sandwiches (they made me add that last part). As any dog-owner will tell you, there are many benefits to sharing your life with dogs. One that took me a bit by surprise but has become my favorite involves the social benefits of dog walking. I’ve read that back in the early 19th Century strangers just started speaking to strangers on the street and nobody thought anything of it. But, and I never feel more justified than when blaming all our problems on the American media, ever since Dragnet and M Squad hit American airwaves in the late 1950s most Americans, right or wrong, assume the stranger who begins talking to them on the sidewalk is a psychotic street person with a troubled past. Unless he’s walking a dog or two. Since I’ve had these dogs I’ve had more pleasant late-afternoon conversations with the residents of Irvington than I could have ever imagined before. That alone is well worth the food and vet bills. When I take these walks I find I feel very much like Jimmy Stewart in the movie “Harvey.” All sorts of people live in Irvington and I speak to every one of them the same way I’m speaking to you. If I had a business card I’d be passing them out and inviting them all to dinner the next evening. |
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