The Dog Without a Name

When we moved into the house where we currently live, our landlords asked if we wanted to keep the dog that they had tied up in back. We respectfully declined, but we soon learned that there was another dog that also came with the house, who lives there but doesn't really belong to anybody. Like a majority of the strays here, it's a yellowish mutt, and as is the case with most female dogs on the island, she had recently had puppies.

Our neighbors have continued to look after the puppies, and whenever Chloe and Alexander don't eat everything on their plates, the mama dog gets a treat. This is the extent of responsibility that we've taken for this dog. We don't want it to depend on us for food, but we also try to provide it with something other than vermin and street garbage whenever we can.

In return, the dog no longer tries to bite us when we walk to our front door, but she continues to hang out around our house most of the time, which discourages people who don't belong there from entering our yard. I know she's also keeping a watchful eye on her puppies, which are already getting pretty big themselves. Unfortunately, this also means that whenever we have guests, we usually have to escort them through our yard so that the mama dog - and now the puppies - doesn't try to bite them. 

I wouldn't say that I particularly like the dog all that much. As I'm relatively certain that this animal is infested with insects and parasites, and since I know she has a predisposition to bite anyone who gets too close, we don't pet her. We also maintain an emotional detachment by not naming her or interacting with her beyond the occasional, "Hello, dog," or, "Stop barking, it's me."

Ever since Chloe was two, she's been asking when we're going to get a dog, to which we usually respond with the standard, "Dogs are a big responsibility..." Since we've lived here, though, she's stopped asking. Maybe it's because she's gotten to see some of the frustrations that come with having a dog without the return of getting to enjoy the benefits. Of course, maybe she also understands, on some level, that most dogs here aren't really domesticated that way that we're used to, and that perhaps it's the domestication that appeals to her. In other words, I think what she really wants is a dog who knows her name, too.