Dr. Mutt is Born

I was born in the year of the dog so there is a connection. Perhaps that is why I see eye-to-eye with canines. We think alike. We're cheerful, for the most part. Our water bowl is always half-full rather than half-empty. We're loyal and dedicated. The expression would be "dogged" in our endeavors to please.

All our family dogs have been rescues, not that purchasing a pet is a bad thing, it's just our take on things. When our daughter was 11, we had been petless for a brief period, and she begged us for a new friend. An ad in the local paper announced a free dog, 10 months old. Her owners were moving and she needed a home quickly or she'd be put down. Not a good feeling. So off to the pound we went.

BLANCA was her official name; can you guess why? But it was a time of unrest in Panama with Civilista demonstrations against the dictatorship and the goon squads. The demonstrators wore white, so "Blanca" became "Civilista Sediciosa" - CIVI for short.

It wasn't long before we realized how smart she was, and vain. At the time I was into photography and Civi would pose for me, front legs crossed and a canine smile beneath her soft brown eyes. On our walks around the neighborhood, no leash, she would taunt the local big dogs chained to posts just to watch them struggle and growl. And she was fast! If a chain broke, she was gone!

Civi was also an accepting being for the most part. After the Invasion in 1989, an old dog showed up at our door, obviously lost or abandoned. We called him "Fulano de Tal" (So and So), and Civi let him stay. She trained our neighbor's Rottweiler puppy Zeus in the Art of War, until Zeus grew up and could fight his own battles.

But she was intolerant of other female canines and ignored all felines.

It was during this period that the idea surfaced to create a canine advice column. I pitched my idea to a writer friend who published a local print newspaper (The Panama News). I suggested a weekly column where dogs, cats, horses and humans would write to Dr. Mutt, and "he" would reply with his sage advice. And bingo, It's a Dog's Life. Lessons in Assertiveness came to be. The column lasted for several years, especially after the paper went online and resulted in four volumes of letters, lovingly titled Canine Advice Trilogy +1.

Civi was with us for nearly two decades, and during that time she filled our lives with joy and laughter. Then one fine day, "Bubba" (the neighbor's dog) and "Uno" (our most recent rescue) accompanied her to the Rainbow Bridge.

P. V. A. May 14, 2024