The Day The Dogs Were Stuck Together

The time was 1970. The place, my backyard.

The 1970′s was a great time for a child growing up. It seemed like parents were a lot more relaxed about where we went, what we did, and who our friends were. We had the run of the neighborhood, and were the  lords of our block. After dinner, we came home when the street lights came on, and never wasted one sunny day inside. Are you kidding me? There was too much to do! Riding our bikes, meeting friends for neighborhood kickball or wiffle ball games, chasing down the ice cream truck, and getting into mischief.  

Most of my friends were animal lovers and we spent a lot of time visiting the neighborhood dogs. We knew all their names and their favorite snacks. My best friend, Andrea and I, went on our daily rounds greeting and petting our furry friends, and talking about what kind of dogs we would get when we were older. Our favorite, Penny, was the mailman’s dog. She was cute little thing. All white with big brown spots on her sausage-like little body. Down the alley, was Rebel, a little muscular pit bull mix who loved it when we stopped by to visit.                                                                                                                                                                                            

Our mutual friend, Wesley, had a large, wiry haired Otter Hound, who was always getting loose. He was a funny old dog, very playful and clumsy and very much in love with my dog, Cinnamon.

Whenever Tippy got loose, he made a beeline straight for my house, and Cinnamon. Cinnamon was a little Shepard mix with gorgeous soulful eyes. For the most part, Cinnamon didn’t really reciprocate Tippy’s attentions, and he usually got a good nip for his efforts. But on this one particular day, the day I’ll never forget, my girl was acting strange.  She was anxious and whining, and seemed to be waiting for something. Instead of sitting quietly with me as I read a book like she normally did, she was antsy and nervous, prancing from paw to paw. One thing I noticed was that she kept licking herself, down there. 

Then Tippy came on the scene. In reality, he must have smelled her from the next street over from where he lived. Cinnamon whined deep in her throat as she danced from paw to paw in anticipation of his arrivaI. I  was curious. She never acted like that when he came!  I watched as they ran up to one another, tails wagging slowly over their backs, sniffing excitedly, whining,  and playing in little short bursts of energy. She acted like she was teasing him!

I laughed at their antics, and smiling, went inside to get some things. About 15 minutes went by, and I went back out to check on the dogs again. Something was wrong. Cinnamon  and Tippy were yelping and crying. I couldn’t see them until I walked down the hill a bit and stopped dead in my tracks. What the heck? Was I seeing what I thought I was seeing? Were these two dogs stuck together rear to rear? I was frozen in shock, but my dogs’ yelps and cries spurned me into action. I raced frantically up the hill yelling for my dad. Bursting into the house, screaming “DAD! Cinnamon and Tippy are stuck together! Help her, he’s killing her!”.  At first he looked at me like I had two heads, then, as realization set in, he said, “Oh, shit..”, got a bucket of ice cold water, and headed outside to my direction.

The dogs, exhausted at this point, just stood there, looking sheepishly at my father. “What’s wrong with them, Dad?”, I asked him, “Why are they like that?”. I swear he blushed, and seemed flustered when he answered very quickly, “They’re
in a tie”. He dumped the water over them and with a yelp, they broke apart, each one licking their own private parts gingerly. My dad quickly walked back into the house as to avoid any more embarrassing questions, leaving me with even more questions at his answer. A tie? What the heck is a tie? Here’s what I pictured: 

      I didn’t find out the answer to that question for years afterward, and when I did, my thoughts always go back to that day and how naive I was! It always makes me laugh to think about it the day the dogs were stuck together.