We wonder why we see so many older people using walkers. They are able to walk but anything can cause an elderly person to get off balance. Such as a large dog who thinks she's still a puppy and wants to greet you with a hug. Jazzy, who lives at Rich's house, likes to visit and was being playful yesterday afternoon so jumped up to show her love for me, and I fell. We were outside in the Life Care garden and my knee met the concrete walk.

Jazzy didn't go to obedience school. In days gone by we didn't have training schools for dogs. We got a puppy and tried as best we could to train it ourselves. A a result there were accidents. One of our dogs bit a neighbor. Not a big bite, just a nip, but nevertheless it was an unfortunate situation because after that our kids were no longer welcome to play with that neighbor's kids, even without the dog.

Two of our dogs were hit by cars. They never learned the command "stay". They learned "sit" because we had morsels of food in our hands. We haven't had dogs in years. I am not in the market for a puppy, but if I were it would only work if I went along with the pet to doggie training school. Apparently our parenting skills were lacking in this regard. In retrospect my fall was my own fault!

We now enjoy our kids' dogs, at least the ones who have gone through training. I guess if you love your dogs you have taken care of this important part of pet ownership. And by the way, dog ownership also extends to picking up after them and keeping them on a leash outside. They should only be able to run loose in your fenced yard or in designated dog parks. If you love your pets you will keep them from running up to people or out into traffic. There is nothing worse than burying a pet that has been hit by a truck in front of your house.

Rosie