He doesn’t know if his Chocolate
Lab is a music critic.
He doesn’t think the dog ever took a
course in music appreciation,
but he has only had the dog for a year,
and the dog isn’t talking about
his previous life. It could be that the
five year old, an estimate by
the vet, which translates to forty-five
in human years, an age by
which most seeking a Ph.D. attain it,
obtained his Doggie of Phil-
osophy degree in music appreciation
before they ever met. All the
man knows is that when he pulls out
his guitar to strum and sing
some old Peter, Paul and Mary or
Kingston Trio tunes, the dog
quietly, but resolutely and rather
quickly rises, lowers his ears
and leaves the room. When his child-
ren were young, they did the
same thing, including a metaphorical
lowering of the ears. What
was disquieting for the man was that
they were in elementary
school at the time – a long way from
obtaining any degree in
music appreciation let alone a Ph.D.
Remind me to bring my earplugs the next time we visit …