Top Dog

It’s no secret that I have become a total dog lover ever since we got our poi dog Buddy. It’s cliche, but Buddy has really become part of the family. He’s like our new baby, and even our son and daughter will admit to that with absolutely zero jealousy.

I guess that makes me Buddy’s daddy. It’s true because I’ll do for this dog what I would do for my own children. The other week I had to take Buddy for a routine visit to his veterinarian. The office has a relatively small waiting room and it’s usually crammed with patients.

That day, however, there was just me, Buddy and an elderly woman and her dog. The woman had on designer clothes and her dog was beautiful, one of those purebred pedigree types. It was also a female dog. I noticed that the woman stayed as far away from Buddy and me as was possible in that small room. Buddy was trying to get the other dog’s attention, which I thought was cute, but the woman would have nothing to do with us.

I believe she was actually snubbing us as though she just came from the Westminster Dog Show with the Best In Show trophy. I tried to strike up a conversation. “Beautiful dog you have there,” I said.

The woman kind of turned away and replied, “Yes, Penelope is a champion show dog.”

I noticed that Penelope started taking a liking to Buddy, but the woman would not have it and kept pulling her dog away.

I guess Buddy wasn’t good enough for her Penelope. That got me hot under the collar and I started throwing stuff out off the top of my head, “I’m sending Buddy to Punahou for a special dog training class. He got accepted to one at Iolani, but his mother wants him to go to Punahou.”

I don’t know where that came from, but I was on a roll.

Buddy got called by the doctor, and so I drove the nail all the way in.

“Oh, and Buddy will be the first to get the new iPad!”