I Accidentally Step on Benji’s Tail
December 28th 2008 21:00
Photo by Muriel Gottrop. Used in accordance with the terms of Wikimedia Commons’ GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
I’m sure most kids have been guilty of this at one time or another. Yep, I’m talking about the proverbial stepping on an animal’s tail.
I only did this once as a child and that was enough for me.
Our neighbour, Mr Harry, had a cross-bred dog called Benji. Benji looked liked a dingo and as kids, we swore he actually was a dingo until the day I asked Mr Harry what breed he was.
“He’s a cross-breed,” was Mr Harry’s reply.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“It’s a dog that’s made up of different types of dogs.”
But unlike a real dingo, Benji was as gentle as a lamb around people he knew. I can remember as a young child, he was the only dog who didn’t terrify me even though my other’s neighbour’s dog, Scopsy, was a dachshund. Scopsy terrified me because he liked to stand up on his hind legs and try and grab me with his front paws.
I only remember seeing Benji being unfriendly on only two occasions. The first was the time a handyman came to do some repairs on my parents’ or Mr Harry’s place. Benji took one look at him and growled. The second time was the day I accidentally trod on his tail while he was sitting down. Benji started to growl as he turned his head around to see who it was. When he realised it was only me, he stopped growling and went back to his usual friendly self.
My ex-neighbour once told me sometimes she accidentally steps on her cats’ tails. She would stroke them and immediately apologise to them. This is not surprising, given that she lives in a tiny unit.
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