Photo by Geoff Carter
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, confesses to snooping in the keeper’s out-basket and finding the following:
“Dear Mr Darwin:
“I write to you with respect and with the hope that you will see fit to examine some of your early findings to explain why I feel like a dog so much of the time: Mostly I just want to lie around on the couch and get up occasionally to eat, which is fine, but I also have this inexplicable urge to chase things, like money, and sometimes I want to bite certain people in vulnerable parts of their anatomy.
“Also, while I understand that human association with dogs goes back to the earliest cave campfire days, I am curious about the gene sharing that may be behind our peculiar fascination with balls: dogs on the one hand endlessly chasing after a thrown ball, and humans on the other hand, either trying to beat a small hard ball with special sticks until the ball hides in a hole, or gathering by the millions to drink beer and watch young men try to hit a ball out of the park, whereupon play is stopped as all the humans leap to their feet and cheer loudly.
“It is this and other odd “ball” behavior that I think is reason for you to revisit the subject of human-dog gene sharing. Also, how is it that dogs got tails to wag, and humans ended up with sore backs from carrying in campfire wood to keep the dogs warm and comfortable.
“Yours Truly
“The Kickass Keeper, who barks at almost everything.”
