The Family Dog

When our kids were young we had a dog, Ruffy, who was part German Shepard and part wolf. He was a cute little fuzzy puppy who grew up into a good-sized dog, and he stayed outside. Except for the time something scared him and he crashed through the window on the French door leading into the house from the patio.

This is not Ruffy, but he looked a lot like this.

I was in the kitchen cleaning up from supper when I heard the commotion. Our oldest daughter ran in bubbling over with excitement and announced, “Ruffy came in?”

“Who let him in.”

“Nobody. He came through the window.”

“What window?”

“The window in the door.”

“But he’s huge and that window is small.”

By then, Ruffy had come into the kitchen and was checking under the table for scraps. I went into the living room, and sure enough, one pane of glass was broken out of the French door. Luckily, it had come out clean so there were no jagged edges that could have cut the dog, but still, I had to wonder how that great big dog fit through an opening about 8 inches by 12 inches.

Ruffy was quite fierce when storms weren’t scaring him. One time when the kids were out in the back playing and a neighbor tried to come through the gate, Ruffy sat like a growling sentinel and wouldn’t let the neighbor in. I had to tell my neighbor to always come to the front door when she wanted to visit.

When he wasn’t loose to play in the yard, Ruffy had a large pen and loved to run the perimeter while one of us squirted him with the hose. That was especially refreshing in the heat of a Texas summer, but it did have one downside. The weeds and grass grew like Jack’s beanstalk inside the pen.

Ruffy was always good for a romp or a walk, and it was undeniable that he wormed his way into all our hearts. Never was that more evident then when the kids did a survey at the dinner table and decided they all liked the dog better than me.

There was a time I liked animals more than people, so I was not terribly insulted. (smile)


Do you have a pet that your kids like more than they like you?