Dog Blog: A magical dog named Merlin

October 14, 2010|By Pegi Lopez

The Irish love their dogs, but aren't a big fans of cats, according to several studies about pet ownership in Ireland. Several countries were in the studies and Ireland was unequivocally a nation of dog lovers, typically showing a preference for larger dogs.

One may ask, why? Researchers believe the Irish bias toward dogs may be linked to the significance and prevalence of farming and rural life in Ireland, and the fact that many more Irish citizens live in spacious houses, rather than small apartments. The study also states that in Ireland, dogs are viewed as useful in the rural area where there are farms and the dogs were considered part of the working household.

Allen McKibbin, keeping step with his homeland, loves big dogs.

Allen is a supervisor in the construction industry, working all over the place managing up to 40 crew members. One day on the way to a site, Allen spotted a large animal wandering in the street. When he reached it he said, "Oh, my god, it's a dog!" Fearing the dog might have gotten hit he pushed it into the back of the truck and off to his work site they went.

Upon arrival the big dog sat in the back of the truck quietly until the lunch-time smells hit his nose.

Then this massive 180-pound dog jumped from the back of the truck and headed for the crew, who were all seated for lunch. He then went up to crew members and stood in front of each one of them looking up at the crew member then at the lunch, then the crew member then back to lunch. He just stood there looking — he did not bark, beg, or wag his tail, he just sat, looking up and down.

Crew members, at first intimidated by this quite large dog, then gave up part of their lunch. One by one he sat looking up, down, up, down until part of the lunch was donated. Then he would quietly move to the next. By the time the dog got toward the end of the line the guys at front of the line were yelling to the end, "Better decide now what part of your lunch you want to donate to the dog!" Everyone on the crew was laughing and shaking their heads — most of all Allen.

The dog seemed to know when lunch time was over and went quietly back to lay in the truck bed.

Allen at this point had no real interest in having a dog due to his work schedule (six days a week, 10 to 12 hours per day) thinking that wouldn't be fair to the dog. But on this day he stood observing this beast with a bit of wonder. Where had he learned his manners? Why is he so quiet? How old is he? Where are his owners?

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