Yoda the Dog

I have never liked dogs much. When I tell people that they ask if I ever had a dog. Well, yes, I did. When I was a little girl we had a white dog with black spots that was part Dalmatian. We were going to name her "Pixie," but my youngest brother couldn't say it right, so it came out sounding like "Picnic." So we called her Picnic.

We didn't have her for very long. I remember Mother said Picnic got mean and was biting people. I don't really remember that. I do remember that we gave her to someone with a farm where she would be free to run. I probably cried. And maybe that's why I never liked dogs much. I'll admit that's a possibility.

But then came Yoda. Yoda belongs to a friend of mine. Where I come from, dogs stay in backyards when the humans go out, but not in Colorado. Everybody takes their dog with them everywhere. Laura loved Yoda. She said Yoda was a special dog and pretty much insisted that I was going to like her no matter what.

I was pretty resistant at first. After all, Yoda was a dog. I think of myself as a cat person. I like cats because they sit quietly in your lap or leave you alone except when they meow to go out. Cats are self-cleaning and you can just leave their food out and they eat till they're done. Cats are pretty independent. Sure, they like to cuddle, but they don't require all the bathing and walking that dogs do.

But Yoda really is different. It's hard to say just how. Maybe she is smarter. Maybe she empathizes with humans more. I don't know. But Yoda feels like a friend. And believe it or not, my friendship with Yoda has affected how I respond to other dogs. My friend, Jane, got a new puppy a couple of months ago. My first thought was, "Oh no, a puppy!" But when I met Bernini I loved him. I'll probably never look at dogs the same way again. It's all thanks to Yoda, the first dog I ever loved.