Destructo the Shark Dog

Mariska is a Pointer/Beagle mix-quite the designer dog. She is five months old and hell on wheels. She chews up everything-patio furniture, pool toys, newly planted flowers and bricks. Her one saving grace is that she kills snakes.

Every morning I tentatively open the door to the backyard and she invariably runs me over. She jumps on me, nipping at my ankles and anything else that happens to come close to her mouth and unabashedly rolls on her back waiting for a belly rub.

I leash her up and we go for a walk. I use the word, walk, generously-she yanks on my arm-Grendel style and jerks me around the block. She vacuums up all manner of road kill, and day old doggie poop.

She has even started swimming in our backyard pool (that is where she found the snake) and terrorizes our cats. The cats stay at a safe distance in the front yard, away from the dog and outside the fence. I never realized or appreciated it before but cats are relatively intelligent creatures.

She is also an expert at solving community mysteries. She is well on her way to digging up all manner of secrets in our backyard; I figure one day soon she’ll find that Chinaman she has been searching for. Did I also mention she can add landscaper and earth moving machine to her list of accomplishments.

Just tie a blue cape around her neck and add a red S to her chest and she will become Destructo the Shark Dog right before your very eyes. She is a thing of beauty when she pits herself against the meanest of villains-The Polaris. She is at her best when she undertakes to rearrange the workshop my husband so diligently has put in order.

The only reason I even entertain the idea of keeping her is because she dearly loves me. Her eyes light up and her tail wags the instant she sees me. She is so much like a child-I want to protect her and keep her but this time the end is completely selfish. I want to do it for me.

After surgery, I tearfully gave her to my brother who owns more acreage than me, and I thought she would be happy. It is a wonder that he still talks to me. She proceeded to tear up his yard and even ate the seat off of his tractor. He ended up giving her to a friend with a lot of land and pack of hunting dogs.

I like to think of her running free and hunting all manner of Arkansas creatures. I also hope my brother can forgive me…