Once I left home for college in 1969, when my folks put down more permanent roots in Milwaukee, they acquired a large black poodle and my dad, for some very odd reason, bought a mynah bird and tried to teach it to talk. But all it did was shit all day and that was the end of that. After a couple of years my folks realized the dog was just too much to deal with and they found him a home where I am sure he was much happier. After I returned from studying in Germany I stayed at home for a few months while I was dealing with some medical issues and I became the proud owner of a beagle puppy to keep me company. He was a troublemaker from the start and when I returned to university he was shuffled off to my aunt and uncle’s farm in Michigan where he lived a long and I am assuming happy life. My parent returned to their normally quiet lives and that was the end of Rogers family pets.
It was never a practical idea to have a pet during my student days. Either they were not permitted where I was living, or I simply did not have the time or inclination to deal with one. After my wife and I got married in 1974 and were living in Tucson we did have a hermit crab and a pair of gerbils, and when we finally moved here to the Washington, DC area in 1976 we adopted a young kitten whose company we enjoyed immensely. We watched her grow to maturity and she produced a litter of three, two of which we kept. Three cats proved too much for our small apartment and we found a nice home for the youngsters on a nearby farm. We mourned mama cat when she was struck by a car and killed in 1980 and we buried her in the Japanese garden of my parent’s home outside of New York City. Our son was born the following year and there was no longer time for pets.
He was around three when my wife’s brother, who raised dogs in Florida, gave her an Australian Sheperd puppy for her birthday. We picked it up at the Baltimore airport and from day one she bonded with my wife and son, but it was also clear from the outset that she wanted nothing to do with me. President Harry Truman was alleged to have claimed that if you wanted a friend in Washington, get yourself a dog. Such was not the case in this instance. If I was in the house she was as far away from me as possible, often hiding under our bed upstairs. She gradually learned to tolerate my presence later in life and we all had a few years to enjoy her company. When she passed we place her ashes under our bed where they remain to this day. It seemed only fitting. We talked about getting another dog, but our son went off to college and our busy schedules were such that it was just not in the cards.
Then came Morgan, a wonderfully intelligent black lab who will be 14 in July. He does not belong to us, but rather to our oldest friend in the area. We have known him since he was a puppy and we always enjoyed him when we visited our friends. He loves everybody and Morgan has become a friend for life. When one of our friends passed away much too soon Morgan had lost his best friend. Since his mom worked he was left home by himself much of the time. Not long thereafter I developed some mobility issues and so I began to visit Morgan to spend some time with him and keep him company. He afforded me unconditional love and companionship when I could use it the most. The bond was sealed forever.
Since then Morgan frequently visits our house and he has made himself completely at home. He has spent several weeks at a time with us, including two Christmas holidays, when his mom was visiting family out of state. He is true blue loyal and follows me everywhere I go although I often suspect he is hoping something tasty might fall on the floor, or that I will give him a treat if he is a good boy. He has me wrapped around that constantly wagging tail.
Morgan has been a frequent visitor throughout these months of sheltering at home during the Covid-19 pandemic and his presence has been particularly soothing. There is nothing better than to have him at my side when I am working in my study, or at my feet when I am reading in my easy chair in the den. This is the kind of dog Truman must have been referring to.
“It seems that nature has given dog to man for his defense and his pleasure,” Voltaire wrote in his Dictionnaire philosophique (1764). “Of all the animals it is the most faithful: it is the best friend a man can have.” Morgan is truly that.
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