Speak! Daddy, Speak!

This is Yoda's daddy. He gave me permission (bunch of licks to the face!) to post a blog here, so here I am.

I never had a normal pet when I was a kid. I had a couple of turtles, a few goldfish along the way, and even a couple of anole lizards billed as "chameleons" at the Woolworth store in downtown Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. But not the first sign of a cat or dog. The closest I came to any mammalian pets back then were two rabbits my cousin captured in his garden one day. They lasted about a week on our back porch and it all turned out so darned sad in the end. When I married Nancy, Yoda's Mommy, I came into things and gained two cats as pets. The two cats have increased to four, and I am quite attached to them, thank you. But as luck would have it, the evening Yoda came home was a major page turner for me.

This is Yoda as a puppy when we had him in a big pen while he learned to be potty trained
How could you not love a face like that?

I remember hearing Rush Limbaugh giving one of his rants against PETA, and he said something about animals not wanting rights, but we as humans have a duty to treat animals kindly and humanely. It should be obvious from such a statement that Rush never had a dog in his life. That really does explain a LOT! I am in no way "anthropomorphosizing" when I make the following statement:

Dogs really do feel and show a full range of emotions. We've all seen angry dogs, and frightened dogs. But take the time to notice the look of utter happiness and joy on a dogs face when a favored toy is offered for play. Check out the way a dog positively SMILES when mommy and/or daddy walk into the room. I even witnessed Yoda being totally concerned about my welfare, in spite of the fact that I was very angry and he was very afraid, yet he STILL tried to physically calm me down with LOVE, and the look on his face was proof positive that he was feeling the very things I am describing.

Rush, get a dog!

Yoda showing his affection