My Dog Beauty

Beauty was given to me when I was a pre-schooler, and he was at a comparable stage in his life. A rope had been tied around his neck, and I was supposed to drag him to my house.

Beauty was determined that he was not going to permit me to take him from his home. Eventually, we were placed in a car and driven to my place.

We grew up together. He was my protector everywhere I went. As I walked down the street, he would run ahead of me and check all of the buildings, front and rear, to make sure that there were no threats to me. One of my neighbors had a tan mongrel of about sixty-five pounds. He would pounce on my dog every chance he got. As time went by, my Beauty was growing into a full-size Lab. Labrador Retrievers are the perfect large-family dogs. They love children and are suspicious of any adults who get too close to their charges. One should give them every opportunity to swim. A Lab loves water almost as much as children. Annual visits to the vet are essential to guarantee a long life. They become so much a part of the family that their death is extremely traumatic.

One-day Beauty had grown large enough to win his first fight against the mongrel. After a couple more encounters, the mongrel made sure to be out of sight when we came by his house.

There were eight children in my family, and we lived on a narrow peninsula. With the ocean on both sides of our home, my parents never worried about us kids being too far from shore. Beauty had set limits as to how far out we could go; and if we went beyond his limits, he would charge out into the water and nip us in the butt. Instantly, we would retreat to meet his permitted zone.

They have exceptional hearing. When my father turned off the main road onto our road, he would be a mile and a half from our house, Beauty would come out from under the table and go to the front door in anticipation of greeting him. This was my mother's signal to start serving supper.

Our door was never locked. Because of Beauty, no one ever entered our house, uninvited, whether we were there, or not. For some reason, though, there was one exception to his rule. It was an Insurance agent. He would always show up at suppertime, and the first we were aware of this was when he walked into the kitchen.

In those days the insurance agent came around once a month to collect the life insurance premiums on all of us kids. When all of the records were brought up to date, he would say good night and head out of the house. During all of this commotion, Beauty never moved an ear, or opened an eye. Somehow he knew that the insurance agent contributed to the family security.

If one wishes to bring unconditional love into their lives, they should get a Labrador Retriever.

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