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October 23, 2009

Lee Ward: 10/25/09 — Thumbs up to Manny

Anonymous The Daily Independent Fri Oct 23, 2009, 09:59 AM EDT

Usually I complain about my boy dog, Manny, but today I give him some credit.

My problems with Manny range from his marking his territory inside the house to escaping the yard, only to run wild in the neighborhood, bullying other less aggressive dogs and ignoring my offers for treats until he’s utterly exhausted and decides to come home. Even though the marking territory is the most annoying, the most serious offense is the aggression.

Even if I invite someone into my home, Manny can’t be trusted. I always put him in the back room where he has access to the outdoors, water and some furniture. He’s content there during visits from friends, but when someone gets near the glass door to his room, he rushes to the door barking and wagging his tail. “Don’t let the tail wagging fool you,” I tell visitors. “It’s just a ploy to make you think he’ll be friendly with you. He won’t.”

Manny’s eyes change color when he’s mad. Normally, they are amber with a spot of blue in the lower left corner of his left eye. When he lays eyes on a perceived enemy, they immediately turn a colder hue. The vet said she has a dog whose eyes change color when he’s angry. I’m glad she told me that; I thought it was a sign of demon possession.

Recently when a friend was over to help me around the house, Manny draped himself over the back of the couch and peered out the picture window at us, doing his usual routine of barking and wagging his tail.

My friend, who is a dog lover, said, “I wonder what would happen if I got closer to you?”

“He won’t like it,” I said.

The friend took a step toward me and Manny’s barking grew slightly more intense. Then, my friend put his arm around me.

Manny became more frantic, pushing closer to the picture window until his teeth, which were bared, were tapping on the glass.

I knew Manny wouldn’t let a little thing like a pane of glass stop him. One day, he was barking at squirrels in the front yard and he slammed against the storm window, shattering the glass. He wasn’t hurt and it did scare him, but I’m sure he’s forgotten that trauma and would be willing to launch himself through more glass to attack my friend. So we stepped apart and Manny calmed down.

“He’s just protecting his mommy,” my friend said.

It’s true. In the house when there are no threats, according to Manny, I have nearly complete control over him. I can mess with him when he’s eating and he obeys my commands. I’ve even just about broken him from peeing on “his” stuff in the house.

But if he thinks someone is on the property who shouldn’t be — a friend, the UPS man, a family or deer — he’s like a dedicated soldier who will put life and limb at risk to protect.

I have learned to live with that behavior from Manny because not only is it a great and relatively inexpensive security system, it’s Manny’s way of telling me he loves me. You can’t argue with any of that.

LEE WARD can be reached at lward@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2661.

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