Not rarely we are thinking that our dog does not have the life with us that he would deserve. So, every once in a while, we are trying something new to have him spending his excess energy. Today, we went to a dog race, hosted by the only greyhound racing club in our area. But instead of doing what more than one hundred other dogs were doing (that is, running behind a fake rabbit which is being pulled by a machine around the race track), when it was his turn, Pepino followed his nose, sensed some mice in the bushes surrounding the race track, and – once left free – ran in the opposite direction of the race track. No way for me waiting at the finish line of the race track to catch him. Once he spotted his owner, he turned around, temporarily vanished behind some bushes, returned back on the race track, jumped over the traction compound into the middle of the race track. All on one’s lonesome, Señor Pepino trotted confusedly around the space, put himself in a squat position and rewarded the spectators with doing a poo.
Today, our dog gave a vivid counterexample on the meaning of the idiom “to give a shit” – to care about something. He may have cared for all the other dogs that stupidly ran their hearts out just for a fake hare, consisting of some flittering frazzles of fabric. Just to make their owners happy to later stand on a podium and get some lousy goodies. And he cared for his own fulfillment. Catching a mouse. And before that he needed to give a shit in the center of the event.
Pepino did not make his owner happy. He made his owner run behind him. Having all the audience gaze at her with her spoilt scraggy dog. People including their dogs were already on the edge, since at the very beginning of the race, the fake hare machine stopped working and this caused certainly one hour of delay. Everybody understood. Don’t fool Pepino with fake rabbits. It’s not nice to fool with mother nature.