How Animals Inspire Writing

I love dogs. Most of my dogs have been Labs. Right now my two loves are Bruno and Rosie, chocolate and vanilla. They are twelve and ten respectively.

Every morning we go for a walk on the sidewalks of San Diego. We used to romp in the park, but now, unfortunately, they wind up lame. So a gentle walk it is . . . until three months ago, when Rosie would balk about half way up the second block. She’d start hop-skipping, panting, pulling back.

Off to the Vet we went, returning after $600 of x-rays and meds, with a “probable” diagnosis of arthritis in the back knee. Rosie started her meds the next day and the Vet told us to expect significant changes because her pain would be relieved. Two weeks later, not much difference. So we tried another pain med. Two weeks later, no difference. Hmmm.

During the last week of medication, we were off to Yosemite and left the kids with a good friend-dogsitter, Val. Val told us that when she walked Rosie and Bruno, Rosie had no problems. Rosie didn’t hop-skip or balk. She walked side by side with her pal on a double lead and was completely off pain meds at this time.

Val suggested she was conning me just to get back home to have her breakfast. Yikes. Was that possible? Was my sweet old girl pulling my leg?

To test this theory, we went for a walk the first day of our return from the National Park and, with a bit of coaxing, Rosie managed to walk about four blocks. Now I was stymied. Could my dog be manipulating me? Was she crying wolf just to get an early breakfast?

The question for writers: Are dogs con-artists, scammers, bamboozlers? Depending upon your answer and your experience with dogs (and other critters) you can create a great scene in your story. Your animal will shed a lot of light on your character(s). Think about what this little post says about me. I’m clearly a sucker for Rosie and will let her get away with anything. How will your characters react in this situation? Read my December 4th blog to see more on using animals for character development.

The moral of this little story is that Rosie was not, I repeat not, conning me this time. When we got back home this morning she was limping and leaving bloodstains on the driveway. It seems she’d torn the nail on her back paw and it was a bloody mess. Could this have been the underlying cause of her problems over the last few months? Or was this just a coincidental injury?

In any case, mea culpa, my sweet Rosie. Mea culpa.

 Rosie as puppy.