Where the heck did that come from?

I got angry.

Where the heck did that come from? I thought I had laid those particular demons to rest many years ago. Oh yeah.... I remember now.

I got a dog.

My "no batteries required" exercise machine. Just add "treats" and the crazy animal will go for hours, and don't get me started about sand piles!

Evidently my dog is also my reminder of my own (and YOURS, so don't feel too smug!) human frailties. He does something wrong, not counting the pee and poop issues, but more like barking like a brat or biting me (and I admit that was puppy teeth and an accident!) and WOW... where did that come from? Anger! Directed at this (relatively- did I mention his "gas" problem?) inoffensive animal. Anger, immediately followed by shame. Psychotherapy in one almost instantaneous lesson. A hell of a lot cheaper and more effective than a shrink!

Dogs have that total love thing going so you immediately feel like a total ass for your anger. You also know that you can't explain it to the dog and he doesn't understand apologies. (treats yes, apologies no.)

Which brings you right up against that other thing... forgiveness. Unconditional.

Talk about feeling shame for that burst of anger.... WOW. There could be a big business opportunity here... Add a dog to every "shrink's" office and you might actually accomplish some therapy and you pay in doggie treats. The therapist is not that useful and would just be there for the more violent offenders to protect the dog. I figure $50 an hour would be more than generous.

Unconditional forgiveness and total love... sort of rings a bell. I'm sure I heard that somewhere before.

I don't think this would fall under "anger management"... more like "anger deprogramming".

Righteous anger... thinking of that it is pretty much impossible to think of that term being applied to a dog or it's behavior. Anything the dog did that pissed you off was probably because you either trained that behavior in or failed to train it out. So...YOU (me actually) are the one responsible. The lesson is, "don't take your own screwup out on the dog!"

I heard that news story about a soldier in Iraq throwing a puppy off a cliff. Now, I really don't trust news agencies to get things right so that is most likely a "setup" for some gullible newsie.... but if it did happen... you can bet the next body over the cliff would be screaming in English and have a boot print on his ass. That's righteous anger!

Oh yeah... I'm more hawk than dove. In case you hadn't figured that one out... and on capital punishment... no... just "indeterminate prison sentences" with no parole!... said length of sentence depending totally on how long it takes you to bring the person(s) you killed back to life. Seems fair to me!

Since that is just naturally fair... we could extend it to pedophiles and rapists... when the victim actually forgets that it ever happened, you get out of jail.

I got a dog.

I also got a whole slug of "life lessons" that seem to have come along with the dog.

Oh... and don't blame those last two opinions on the dog... those are my own views, the dog would be way too forgiving! You can trust a dog for love, just not justice.

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