A common question asked by children, "Do you like dogs?"
"Yeah, I like my dogs."
The first dog I remember having was Rover. Now, in my memory Rover was the perfect farm dog. I don't remember if Rover was a boy or a girl, but I'll guess "he" was a boy because we never had any puppies.
He was a little bit scary, but he was mostly kind and gentle. One time I was sitting with Rover, and he accidentally scratched my arm. I was so horrified that this gentle creature used his power on me. I was scared of Rover for awhile, but he was harmless to people. It was the other animals that should really fear Rover. He was fierce but a hard worker. Rover passed away when he was well into his senior citizen years.
Then some years later, we got the world's greatest dog: Xena. She came as a pup from one of my aunts. At first, Xena was pampered and loved. She got to come in the house and roam around. We tried to make her sleep in the garage, but she was so sad. We would usually bring her back in the house.
As Xena got older, we started to train her to be a farm dog. We would tie her up to things while we worked, hoping that she wouldn't run away or get hurt. One time, we were working outside, and Xena was roaming around. Moments later she had disappeared, horns were honking, and it seemed as though Xena went for a walk on the highway. She survived, but this would not be the last time Xena flirted with death.
Xena fell into her role as a farm dog well. She chased the cows out of the barn and sometimes chased them the wrong direction. She liked to follow everyone around when they were working. She could catch mice and rats with ease. Xena wasn't all gumdrops and daisies, however. She had the occasional slip up... She didn't get along so well with children and strangers. She also enjoyed chasing them or barking at them like her smaller prey.
The life of Xena was certainly enjoyable. She would roam from our house to my grandparents eating everything on her way. She had her pickings from a wide range of dishes: burgers, cat food, milk, KFC chicken bones, and anything else she could jump and take out of your mouth. They say that you shouldn't feed dogs chocolate, well Xena had plenty in her day, and it never slowed her down. It was almost like being on a diet because you always had to share whatever you were eating with Xena.
As she got older, Xena started to suffer from various health ailments. Her final diagnosis would be kidney failure. It started to slow her down. I wasn't around much during her intensive care unit time, but it still pained me to know that Xena wasn't her energetic, crime fighting self.
This summer when I was home, Xena passed away. There will never be another dog like her. Consider yourself lucky to have been chased, jumped on, or barked at by The World's Greatest.
