That’s not a Dog

My sister is a little loopy at present.  This is somewhat expected, considering she underwent back surgery a couple days ago.  I stopped to visit with her on my way home from teaching a class in Helena last evening.  At one point during a conversation, she tried to name the specific breed of dog one of her friend’s has.  “You know what kind of dog it is,” she suggested.  “About this big.”  She held a hand out to illustrate.  “They’ve got messy hair that sticks out everywhere…always matted…” She swung her arms about, hoping they might work as descriptors for retrieving the name of the breed.

“That’s not a dog, Deb,” I told her.  “That sounds like 20 pounds of housecat.” 

--Mitchell Hegman