Gone to the dogs

by Umangi de Mel

Do you by any chance have a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach that practically everything has gone to the dogs, these days? Oh yes...don't I know the feeling, having had it in the above mentioned spot for sometime now. Apart from the obvious things that are prone to go-to-the-dogs, even most of the houses (especially those that are in the posh category) have noticeably gone to the four legged mammal. In case you don't really cotton on, please take a closer look at the sign boards my competent photographer buddy has captured.

You've got one too?? Great, we too had one which hung on a tree before it fell off and was never found. Like all the repellents that are used to kill creepy crawlers, lose their effectiveness on the latter after some time, the original purpose of these sign boards that hang on big gates and small gates is also lost, I think...If not, how on earth was uncle Siri robbed with all those big black `beware of the dog' boards especially made out of wrought iron, hanging on his Victorian wrought -iron gate?? The burglars probably found out Siri's `Thunder' was merely a mangy mongrel...???? My colleague interrupts with another `dog gone' tale from Down under, while I try to figure out what happened to Uncle Siri right here in good ol' Sri Lanka.

Zita tells me that she saw a similar, but a much more interesting board (presumably made out of mahogany) in Australia which read `Dog lives here'. Sometimes I feel that it's a blessing dogs aren't able to read or speak....

`Never mind the dog, beware of the owner' hey, does that mean the former's better, Mr?!? The dog fashion is apparently quite contagious, as quite a few houses which have never seen the colour of a dog have boards polished to bits, hanging on the gates.

Anyway, having spoken about all the dogged folks out there in their luxurious homes guarded by their `not-so-luxurious' dogs, I think it's high time I got back home to attend to Princess's (our very own `sausage' dog) injured long ear which might turn blue if I didn't, and make sure she keeps barking in her own midget- like ways, to guard ours which has no sign board what-so-ever!