Family Dogs

[Sy Zabrocki]

>From Sy Zabrocki--RPT

There are too many dogs . . . yeah, yeah . . . too darn many mutts. =
Yeah! Yeah! They bark too much, eat too much, cost too much. Yeah! Half =
of all dogs should be killed and other half locked up. Yeah!

NOW THAT I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION . . . let's talk. About what . . . about =
dogs of course. No, we won't exterminate any dogs, just kidding up =
there.

Anyone in the piano tuning business must learn to cope with the family =
dog. Like it or not there is nothing you can do about it. Frankly, I =
have become a little weary of the entrance scene at the door of each =
home. The dog, or dogs, are barking, jumping and slobbering on my =
clothes. The lady might be holding back the dog as it shakes her =
internal organs (and some not internal). Maybe they manage to get the =
dog in a back room and then it barks the whole time you tune.

Then there is the dog who becomes too relaxed. It insists on sleeping at =
your feet while you tune. Sometimes the dog smells. On a few occasions =
they even pass gas. Hate it when that happens. One old dog wanted to =
sleep right in the pedal area. When the lady wasn't looking I'd give it =
a kick.

Some dogs howl while you tune. Must hurt their years. One dog even =
howled when put outside. Dogs have good ears you know.  The piano =
teacher Beulah had a dog that howled while she taught piano. Put him in =
the bedroom every day and the dog howled through all the lessons. =20

Something happened a few days ago that caused me to do this topic. Some =
"models" must  have more oil on their fur, hair, fur, whatever. Petting =
this dog causes the oil to tranfer to your hands, then transfers to your =
tuning hammer. Yep. I actually went out to the truck and washed the =
handle with CPL (center pin lubricant). It's mostly naptha you know.=20

People love their dogs. Hey, I love their dogs too, mostly when I'm =
driving away. I just won't pet every dog in town but I do pet a few. You =
have old favorite customers and you just don't want to offend them. =
Usually dogs calm down in a few minutes and then you can go to work. I =
just don't understand how dogs can be so happy (or mad) when the tuner =
comes. I could win the national lottery and not be that happy. I jest.=20

I just don't have any interest in dogs. Never had one.  Oh ya, some of =
them are cute little son-of-a-guns. My daughter's family have a smart =
dog. Makes me nervous. What if his IQ is higher than mine. Maybe a dog =
will save my life someday and then I'll jump and bark whenever a dog =
comes in the room. If dogs have high authority in the hereafter, I'm in =
deep dodo.

You all must have experienced dog incidents while out tuning. Did you =
ever get bitten by a dog? I did, three times but not bad.

Don't like cats either. They make your house smell. So do dogs. Yeah! =
Yeah!. Ooops. Maybe I'm in enough trouble . . . "better let sleeping =
dogs lie."

Sy Zabrocki

1

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