My Dog Katy

Christy was the dog of my choice. She was a yellow lab that I bought with one hundred dollars. It was a romantic idea for me to want to have a dog, really. I thought a real man ought to have a hunting dog, even if he does not do any hunting. Christy wasn’t all that smart of a puppy and I wasn’t smart enough to train her, so I just played “fetch” with her every evening in our fairly large backyard. I was in my early forties then and still had enough strength and energy to keep up with my puppy.

Christy just wanted to play “fetch” and that was probably the only thing she could do except for barking and eating. I had something in mind for her to do, but did not know how to get my idea across to her. She probably had the ability to learn, but her master wasn’t a trained teacher, so we just tried to get by by merely playing “fetch.” Our relationship wasn’t all that bad, but it could have been better.

Then Katy came along and things became dramatically different.

She was a blond stray dog who looked a lot like a golden retriever. Gary, one of our church members found her at his door and brought her over, asking whether we would like to keep her. Much to Kathy’s dismay, I took the offer and all the troubles that came along with having two fairly large-sized dogs. I left Katy in the backyard with Christy the first night, hoping the two retrievers would strike up a relationship, but that wasn’t going to be the case. They didn’t get along at all. What made things so much worse for me was Katy barked all night at our porch door, wanting to come inside and it nearly drove me crazy. Being a Chinese, I believed strongly that humans and beasts should not cohabit under the same roof, but I finally caved in, for it was a choice between us getting any sleep or not. Evidently Katy’s previous owner had kept her inside, for she was house-broken. She has been staying inside with us ever since.

I was relatively young then, but had found it quite difficult to keep up with two dogs, and was becoming increasingly impatient with Christy’s demand to play fetch whenever I went to the backyard. I enjoyed reading under the tree in the yard, but the dog simply wouldn’t leave me alone, and finally a decision had to be made. Christy had to go if I desired to enjoy my backyard at all. Besides, compared to sweet Katy, Christy was just too wild for me to keep up with. I put an ad in the newspaper and a lady showed up the next day and took Christy away. She was overjoyed because her husband was looking for a lab at that time and Christy was available for free.

Katy knew how to make herself invisible. She was truly a smart dog, for she seemed to know I guarded my privacy very closely and she never a single time invaded my space. I even let her sleep on the floor by my bed every night, and she gave birth to three puppies during one of those nights. I was awakened by a strange groaning in the middle of the night and saw Katy licking a puppy in a puddle of blood. She did such a good job cleaning up after herself that there was only a faint blood stain on the carpet after she was done with all her business. I kept her and her puppies in our garage and there wasn’t any cleaning up needed during the first few weeks, for Katy ate whatever came out from her litter, and when the time came, the boys and I took the puppies to the streets and gave them away in a matter of hours. Kathy was home schooling all our boys then and life was good. We were poor, but what more could a man ask than a house full of laughter and a dog that rarely barked and unceasingly wagged her tail.

Katy was an adult when we got her and we had no idea of her real age. While all our boys were doing their growing, Katy seemed to stay the same. She had another pregnancy, for a wild dog violated her when we were in Taiwan. She had eight puppies that time and it was extremely difficult for her to keep up with the cleaning, even for a responsible dog like Katy. Within a week or so after she had her puppies, our garage began to smell and we had to keep the mother and eight puppies outside. Again it didn’t take long for the boys and me to give the puppies away. There was, however, one reject though, and we had to give it away for the second time.

The boys continued to grow and followed their mother to school. By this time Kathy had found a teaching job and all three boys became regular students in a Christian school. Katy seemed to remain the same throughout the years. The boys were preoccupied by their school and new-found friends and paid very little attention to Katy, and I continued to take her for granted. She was such a sweet dog who demanded nothing and gave everything she had to us.

I don’t know how many times we tried to figure out Katy’s age, but her real age remained a mystery. She just sheds more often now and her blond hair has turned paler as days go by. She became quite ill just a few months ago and it got so bad that I was even contemplating putting her down. But she pulled through somehow and remained healthy for a few months before she had a stroke. One time she lay so still that I thought she was gone, but she wagged her tail when I called her. I have never prayed for a dog, but I did several times after she had the stroke. Praying for a dog’s recovery from illness! I surprised even myself. Katy miraculously recovered and is able to function, albeit she might have lost some of her eyesight and some freedom of mobility.

I still walk her twice a day, sometimes in sub-zero weather. Yet I have found it more and more difficult to take her out to the park nearby during the winter time, for I myself am growing old and cold weather bothers me more and more. I often see myself in my aging dog as we stroll slowly along the sidewalk, fighting against the cold wind on the high plains of Texas.