A special dog named Lady

LADY DOING HER 'SPECIAL' POSE...

The other day, I was at the dog park and talking to Ron, who works for the county recreation department. Ron keeps up the dog park and Horizons Park across the street.

We noticed an older woman  — with obvious white hair — park beside my car. She and two young boys got out and sort of milled around outside the fence. They were talking about how big Lady was, and I was afraid I'd have to go so they could bring their dog in the small-dog lot.

Then they started walking along outside the fence, and it was obvious they didn't have a dog. The woman said as much and said she wanted to look at the dogs, maybe pet a few.

I told her she was welcome to do that. I added that she might go down to the local humane society; she could pet and walk dogs there. She said she'd never thought of that, and she thanked me. And they went on down the fence to see more dogs.

Before they left, she asked what kind of dog Lady is. When I said she's a mutt, the woman was surprised. "I thought she was a special dog," she said.

Well, she is. She just doesn't have a specific breed. (NOTE: We've since learned that Lady is one eighth boxer, one eighth chow, and 75 percent mutt.)

NOTE: Lady passed on Sept. 17, 2016.

Contact: I can be reached at tgilli52@gmail.com or nc3022@yahoo.com. Also, my Twitter handle is 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

• Good Samaritan

• The PRESS cap and my friend Mike

• Watching TV

• No luck with Billy Sims

• Wipeout at Death Valley

• Days with rainbows

• A desperate writer working in the dark

• Yer outta there!