I'd beat that dog!

We are blessed to live in a neighborhood where everyone has some space, meaning we don’t all have postage stamp backyards. Lots and lots of people have dogs in our neighborhood and while most of them are friendly, there are a few who are meaner than a snake. On occasion dogs get out and kind of roam the neighborhood and obviously that concerns me as a parent of small children. In fact, while I was out of town earlier this year, Tammy and the boys had a close call with one. Ever since that experience, when we take our boys and our man dog (Mo) out for a walk, I almost always take a 2½ foot pvc pipe with me just in case I might get the privilege of beating one of those mean dogs upside there devil heads. I haven’t had that opportunity yet, but I’m always looking.

Back behind our house is a huge creek, full of flat, pancake like rocks, perfect for skipping. Brooks and Brayden, being boys and all, absolutely love to go down there and skip rocks. Well this week I took them down to the creek and just as we got down there, a certain demonized dog showed up, maybe 100 yards away. The dog started barking at us and I just muttered the comment under my breath, “I wish that dog would come over here! I’d beat that dog!” Immediately Brooks turned around to me with a smirk on his face. He paused for a second with the smirk still planted on his face, and said, “I’d like that very much.”

I busted out laughing, and thought, now that’s my boy! As much as I try to teach my boys to be nice, polite, well mannered and well behaved, I also want to bring out the warrior, the barbarian that I know is in both of them (can you tell I just read “Wild At Heart”?). I’m not sure beating a mean dog is the best way to do that, but I don’t guess it could hurt either. After all, Brooks did say it himself, “I’d like that very much”. So would I, son…so would I.