This was quite interesting Larry, and the more times I read it, the more I imagined a story of these young parents and imagined a continuation of their story. I liked how you related being owners of the dog to then having to raise a child... that this dog is at their side, possibly afraid or not knowing why the dog is shy, and will they just try to send their child off too? Without guiding them, without listening to their hopes or fears?

Thoughtful, thanks for sharing.

Lol, Mr. Larry

I went to Meyer on Saturday, and I finally saw the dog park. I was pretty surprised specially when I saw the pictures that you posted on fb as I had no clue about its existence.

My take on this poem is that the line " better luck with a child?" to me can be taken into two directions. I guess if I heard the tone in which it is said It would be easier to know what you meant with it.

first interpretation, is that you are asking a question... sort like saying, wouldn't it be easier if you had a child?

Second interpretation.. imagine what would happened if you had a child?

I could envision this all too well. Reminds me of my dog, Zoey. She gets all excited when we take her around other dogs, but as soon as we go to the dog park, all she wants to do is follow me around, so I have to run around and try to encourage her to play with other dogs.

But enough about that: The last line of this poem is definitely the line that speaks for the rest of the poem. A lot of couples get a dog as "practice" for a kid. So if they expect to just be able to release their dog and it handle business itself, how will they possibly be able to handle a child when they first send him/her off to school for the first time?

On a side note, when people ask me if I have kids, I like to respond "I have a dog", because despite her being just a pet, my girlfriend and I do treat her just like a baby.

I personally launched because while a dog is a pain a child or children are a much worse responsibility than a mere dog while I understand that this in the case of the owners footsteps is a small step towards children it's quite interesting the foot in the water technique

Larry, I didn't even know you were in town! How long were you watching us? Next time, don't be so shy! For the record, if you happen to see us and our Jack Russell, Zach, at the park you should come say "Hi!"

P.s. - He was just grumpy because he hadn't had his 16th nap yet, he's usually much more outgoing and social.

P.P.s - I liked this piece. ;-)

(laughing so much!!!) What a wonderfully comical poem, also, advice to the owners of the terrier, please don't ever have children!!! :-P