There are some dogs too wild to live among men. – Barker Ajax
Sounded like a howl for help. Looked like self-abuse. Not the fun kind.
Sedimentary. Layer upon layer of change.
Simultaneously at the same time, he changed careers, moved cross-country, got serious with a new lady.
He was broke.
He had divorced his two dogs and now he was telling the old man he was worthless and never going to amount to much. 'Fraid he'd die in obscurity.
Shit mounts up.
The old man had been there. More than once actually.
Nobody falls in love, thinking I can just dump this bitch the first time life gets hard. How many homeless guys have a dog instead of shelter? And what does that tell you about loving something other than yourself?
Two too many questions.
The old man had rescued luckless canines. He had given away dogs when he could no longer shelter them. Others he had given back to shelters.
You make the right decision at the time when you get a dog, one hopes. You make the right decision at the time when you must surrender them.
The old man had gone year after year after year without any dog at all. Thought of those years as a long dark cold winter on Game of Thrones. Spent too much energy back in the day catting around.
Then you meet a woman and you think you are making a good decision at the time and she has a dog.
Not long before you like the collie better than the colleen. Or she doesn't like you and takes the dog with her when she goes.
Makes you want to bite somebody.
And you know you will get another dog again.
When the time is right for both of you.