I was trolling through google news today, looking for stories that relate to the dog world, and was thoroughly struck dumb at the contrast between the first two stories I found. You want the good one or the bad one first?
I’ll give you the bad news first so we can end on a good note. A Columbus firefighter pled guilty to killing his two dogs because he didn’t want to have to board them while he was on vacation. David Santuomo of Columbus tied his two mutt-i-grees to a pipe in his basement, fitted his rifle with a silencer, killed the dogs, and dumped their bodies in his garbage can. What kind of a “person” does this?
On the opposite end of the spectrum is this quote from an Associated Press story about Richard Gere’s new movie, Hachi: A Dog’s Story: “The story of Hachiko is a legend among Japanese, a pet-loving nation that honors self-sacrificing loyalty.”
So, in the US, we are so bothered by the presence of a dog or two that we can just callously kill them when we want to go away for a few days, while in Japan, dogs are honored for their self-sacrificing loyalty. Yes, I know I drawing generalizations from two isolated stories, but it just really makes you think when you see them side-by-side, doesn’t it?
More on the movie tomorrow – it’s a truly touching story.
Until next time,
Good day, and good dog!