Dirkson

Our dog Dirkson was mentioned briefly in another post.

One half Irish Setter & half Lab, Dirkson was more like Clifford than either of those breeds.

He was huge! Granted, I was still growing in high school, but Dirkson's front legs could fit comfortably on my shoulders.

He ran away a lot. He ate everything. He destroyed the lawn. He was rambunctious.
He dragged me through ditches so I had to take a shower with my clothes on. He ate the siding off the house and ate through the television antenna wire. He knocked over, dug under, and jumped over fences we created for him.

He had 1/4 acre to run and jump around but this wasn't enough for him. He needed to be free. So the last time he ran away, we just looked for him a little less hard.

There was a long hiatus after Dirkson, not so much to mourn his loss as to get counseling and store up energy for the next dog. Luckily for the Andersons, the next dog, Shadrach ...a beagle...was the exact opposite. Shadrach's mortal sin was sloth. We were lucky to get him to eat and go outside to use the bathroom. He slept 23 hours a day by the hot-air vent, didn't bark, didn't run, didn't jump up, didn't lick, and didn't do tricks. The only thing separating him from a stuffed animal was the dog food bill.