Our pampered pets

The latest addition to the family is my son's pup, Boss Man.

He doesn't look like a boss. He's white, small, frisky and energetic.

He has a bobbed tail and ears that stand upright.

He came from a large litter, but he was one of the smallest.

He's supposed to be an outside dog.

The other morning about 3 a.m., he awoke my son by barking and barking outside the bedroom window. He was supposed to be chained by his doghouse but, somehow, he had escaped. How he knew where my son's bedroom was, is anybody's guess. But he guessed right.

My son jumped from the bed and headed for the back door. When he opened the door, Boss bounded through the door and was ready to play. He bounced, flounced, grabbed his crowing rooster toy and set about chewing and running. My son went to bed and tried to get Boss to lie down quietly with him. No go. Boss was raring to go and wasn't about to rest.

Finally, he was put back outside on his chain so that my son could get some sleep.

Twice, he has escaped his chain and twice he has waited by the door so that he could come inside. After all, it's air conditioned inside the house and he knows it.

For three months, Boss wouldn't or couldn't bark. He was silent and that worried my son. After all, the dog would have to bark if he was to become a hunting dog in the future. "Don't worry," I said. "He'll bark when he finds something to bark about."

One day Boss saw himself in a mirror and that almost brought a bark. Who is that stranger looking at me?" Eventually he did bark, small little sounds, but they were barks.

Later they got louder.

One day he barked and barked at my leopard purse.

Boss has several toys including the crowing chicken, a quacking duck, and now he thinks the phone is a talking toy.

A couple of weeks ago I was talking on the phone with my son. In the background I could hear Boss romping, barking, and squeaking a toy. "Put him on the phone," I said to my son.

"What?" "I said, 'Put him on the phone.'"

My son put the phone to Boss's ear and I began to talk.

He listened intently, then tried to chew the phone, and grab the phone cord. In fact, he tugged at the phone so hard, that he hung up on me.

Since then, he thinks the phone talks, just like his squeaky toys. When it rings, he wants to listen.

Why, I wonder, do Americans put so much stock in their pets?

I've always been that way with the pets I've had over the years. Actually there's been only one inside pet. My family got him when he was five weeks old and he lived long enough to see both my kids graduate from high school, then leave home.

Not everyone feels the way we do about pets.

I remember talking with a young woman, Mitzi, from the big city of Tokyo, Japan. We were discussing cultural differences, ways of life.

She thought it so odd that we would allow dogs and cats to live inside our homes.

I explained that our house pets are like family members.

"But they are an-i-mals," she said, giggling

My daughter and son-in-law's two house dogs are treated like royalty. They eat the best dog food, are taken to the veterinarian for periodic checkups, and have their own individual padded beds. They want for nothing. They are taken for walks, and ride in a wire basket on the family four-wheeler.

Sometimes they go for a ride in the fishing boat in the backyard pond.

A stray cat has now joined their household and claims one bedroom as her own.

Yeah, I guess we do go overboard, Mitzi.

But a best friend is hard to find.