Son,

Your sister married a while back and I inherited her 14 pound dog, Sadie. Sadie is half cocker spaniel and half schnauzer. She just turned fourteen years old. An ice storm came through town last Monday and knocked out our power. Sadie is pretty smart – probably as smart as a two and a half year old child – and she quickly evaluated the power outage and prepared for the worst.

I am a University graduate. I am human. And I know how to be properly distressed. Sadie crawled under a blanket, stuck her nose out for some fresh air, and went to sleep.

What a life, I thought. By the third day of no electric power Sadie was sensing my distress. She nudged my leg and when I responded she motioned to her blanket – as if to say, “Why don’t you just relax and get under a blanket?”

Every time I went out back to chop more wood Sadie walked with me. She stood patiently by while I swung the heavy ax. I could see her thinking, “Well, I guess it makes him feel better.” She did not fool me. I knew she was just humoring me, trying to be a faithful companion. When I would finally stop chopping and picked up a bundle of wood her ears would perk up and she would bound for the back door, thinking, “Finally!”

As we sat bundled in blankets in front of the fire I pondered the life of a dog. She does not worry about time. I was thinking, ‘…it has been three days with no power, what should I do?.’ She was thinking, ‘this blanket sure is warm.’

She is a lucky dog. She is a mixed breed so she doesn’t have to worry about training for dog shows. She is small so she never had to partner with police officers fighting crime. Being small also gives her the right to stay inside year round. She is smart – so she knows how to put up with me. And she is blessed that she was not born a Pitt Bull.

Pitt Bulls have their defenders. Some people love them. But what is the expected life of a Pitt Bull? I shudder to think about that? What I expect from Sadie is exactly what I get – a companion that does not worry about Ice Storms in life. We are two old dogs, snuggling under blankets, trying to stay warm.

Dad