Stamford is out July 20, 2014 Pup of the Week

Another quiet week here at the Bridge has allowed me to look into the River for worthy pups to write about.  Earlier this week I looked towards my friend Stamford who was trying to get through a fence in his yard.  “The little bugger,” I said laughing.  He burst right through that fence and there was a cat on the other side and then “oh sweet mother of mercy!”  I ran up the hill, hopped on my cloud, then on my bed, and hid under the covers.

A little while later one of my squirrel minions came to me and said I was requested to swear a cat in at the Bridge.  I slipped on my robe, grabbed my book, and dreaded every step as I got closer and saw that it was indeed Stamford’s cat.  I tried to swear her in as quickly as possible but of course, because cats think all dogs know one another she asked me if I was friends with Stamford and I said “you know I saw him around once or twice, but you know, I wouldn’t say we were exactly friends, you know, saw him at a Christmas party a  couple of years ago, I think I remember him double dipping.”  And the cat said “Yeah I thought we were friends too and then he ate me.”

Now I can’t celebrate Stamford for eating a cat.  That is one of the five worst things a dog can do.  If you are not sure this is what they are:  1)  Eating a child 2) eating our parents 3) eating someone else’s parents 4) eating another dog 5) eating a cat.  So this was a very, very bad thing.

But it’s what Stamford and his Dad did afterwards that makes him worthy of recognition.  The kitty’s parents were on holiday and they had no idea that anything had happened to their kitty.  It would have been very easy to say “Your kitty? Nope, haven’t seen it, maybe it ran off, got to go now, hope you enjoyed your vacation.”

But Stamford and his Dad decided to tell the kitty’s Mom the truth.  This was a big step.  The kitty’s Mom had the right to make all sorts of demands, because she was the injured party who lost someone she loved and she could even contact the authorities and cause problems for Stamford, or make financial demands of his Dad   But Stamford and Dad knew the truth was the only way to go.

When they told her of course she was angry and upset but she said that she knew Stamford and that he was a good dog and didn’t want to see anything bad happen to him.  Stamford’s Dad agreed to reinforce the fence, to not let Stamford outside loose without a muzzle, and when the woman gets a new cat he will pay for the vaccines.  All in all I think they made wonderful compromises in the face of tragedy.

So here is to Stamford who did something terrible, as you all do from time to time, but owned up to it, which we sometimes don’t and tried to make things right.

So remember, it’s not what you do wrong, it’s how you react afterwards that counts.

Post Tags: