Today, I have been told repeatedly on FaceBook is International Dog Day (aka National Dog Day).

International Dog Day was founded in 2004 by Pet & Family Lifestyle Expert, Animal Rescue Advocate, Conservationist, Dog Trainer and Author, Colleen Paige, who you might recognize as also having set up other pet holidays, like National Kitten Day, and even National Wildlife Day! In 2013, it was even officially adopted into New York State Legislation. 

Uh-huh.

I am not a dog person.  I am, most definitely, a cat person.

However, I have made exceptions for certain doggos I have met during my life.  Them I like.

Okay, truth be told, I’m not such a hardass about dogs.  I mostly like dogs.  I just don’t want to own one.  As my dear husband says, there are no bad dogs, only bad dog owners.

There are, however, stupid dogs.

This is the voice of experience.

The one and only time my family had a dog, we somehow ended up with a lovely dog.  She looked like a golden retriever, which are very smart dogs.  She was not really a golden retriever – she was an Afghan Hound (which I have been assured by a dog trainer, and she should know, are the stupidest of dogs – beautiful but dumb as a bag of rocks) in retriever clothing. 

I don’t remember her name.  It could possibly have been “Lady” or “Goldie” or something equally doggie-esque. 

I don’t know how we got that dog.  I don’t know how we got rid of that dog.  All I know is that for a brief, not-so-shining moment, we had a dog.

My one clear memory of that dog was having to pull her out of the middle of the major street we lived on because she had found something dead in the middle of the road and she liked the smell – even though she had fully stopped traffic in both directions and was surrounded by a cacophony of car horns and people yelling. 

I had to literally go and drag her out of the road. 

I have no photos of this dog.  I have nothing to prove that she wandered briefly into my life other than that one image burned into my mind – of a dog standing in stopped traffic to smell something dead and disgusting.

I am afraid that experience has forever sullied the image of dogs as far as I am concerned; that and the fact that dogs think cat poop is a treat.

Happy International Dog Day And someone tell Colleen Paige to step away from the calendar.