Ajax to the rescue

I DON'T HAVE A PICTURE OF AJAX, BUT THIS IS THE KIND OF SCRUM THAT
GOT ME IN TROUBLE. LADY IS THE MOSTLY WHITE DOG AT TOP RIGHT.

There used to be a sweet, 200-pound mastiff at the dog park named Ajax, and sometimes he'd run into a dog or person and knock them down. Or the opposite.

One day, a group of dogs came racing through where I was standing. They ran into me, and I was falling down. I stumbled back into Ajax, and we both staggered a second ... and we both walked off.

Thanks, Ajax.

By the way, the couple kept telling me that Ajax was 184 pounds. I told them he was closer to 200. Then one day, the husband said he'd been weighed at 202. Too many doggie cookies, I guess.

It's been several years, and mastiffs don't live that long. I miss him and his owners, who told me that Ajax was an apartment dog. He must have been rough on the furniture.

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com  TWITTER: EDITORatWORK

Other entries from The Dog Blog

• Katie cried

• Growl and pull

• ... said the spider to ...

• The Dog Diary (2015)

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• 13-plus years with my dog Lady

• OOH! OOH! The stereophonic huskies

• What Lady and Michael Jackson had in common

EDITOR@WORK blog entries

• You really DO need an editor

• Reminders for would-be novelists

• What I do when I'm editing

• What I charge (it's a deal) and what I edit

• Slogging through the Internet

• J-school: More eyes on your stories

• J-school: Go out and learn

• Rookie mistakes for magazine writers

Blog entries from The Auto Racing Journal

• Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.

(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)

• Then Junior Said to Jeff...

(the book of great NASCAR stories)

• My best day as a sports writer

• Jeff Gordon's milk toast to Dale Earnhardt

• Wayne Auton: A life in racing

More blog entries by Tom Gillispie

• Resume for a writer and editor

• An editor's views on powerful writing

• Advice for be and would-be novelists

• Links to TG's stories online

• Favorite quotes

• What I do when I'm editing

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie

• Wipeout at Death Valley

• Days with rainbows

• A desperate writer working in the dark

• Yer outta there!