When I walk to my office building every morning, I pass a news kiosk that has a guard dog lying in front of it.
It doesn’t look like much of a guard dog. It’s a Siberian Husky, I think, with a white coat and brown spots. It’s cute, as Huskies tend to be. But the reason I know it’s actually a guard dog is because the kiosk has a sign that says something like, “WARNING: THIS PREMISES PROTECTED BY GUARD DOG.” (I wouldn’t normally use the word “premises” to describe a news kiosk, but I guess it qualifies.)
The other reason I know it’s a guard dog is because it lies there with a frown on its face and barks loudly at anyone who ventures close enough to pet it. Even children.
It sure is a grumpy old creature.
When I was walking to work this morning, I finally realized why it’s grumpy. Thing is, if I had to sit outside a news kiosk every single weekday, on the curb of a busy street, with traffic rushing by, including lots of loud buses, while my master got to hang out inside the kiosk all day, I’d probably be pretty grumpy, too.
It’s still cute though.
Maybe I should set it free…
oh, oh… set it free!!!
Though I’m considering getting a Siberian Husky, and have been reading up on them a lot lately. They’re usually not recommended for guarding because they tend to be extremely gregarious. They are also falsely believed to be barkless because so few of them bark. Then again… like you say, if I were tied to a kiosk, I’d probably a lot too, and I’m not even a dog.