ELEPHANTS VS DONKEYS?

My friend Sebastian was visiting the other day.  We were going crazy around the house.  We chased each other, charged in to each other, pushed each other over, and grabbed each other’s collars.  I was afraid we would get in trouble but Jet says this is ‘good fighting’.

Huh?

Jet (my foster mom) says this type of ‘fighting’ is playful and therefore it’s just fine.  She said humans have all sorts of good fighting called ‘sports’.  She defined these sports as a type of human playing but with greater rewards at the end like a big prize. (I’m not sure what she meant.  Dogs are rewarded after good fighting with a big prize of happiness.)

This needed more exploring if I was going to understand good fighting so she gave me a few examples:

Judo: meaning “gentle way”.  Hmmm.  A Japanese martial arts form.

Boxing: combat sport where two people fight using their fists inside a ring

Wrestling: two people fighting with strategic holds of their arms and legs

Jet says even politics is a form of good fighting.  I checked out politics on the Internet and on television.  It appears the fight is between a donkey and an elephant.  Sometimes they fight with boxing gloves (sometimes the gloves come off and they fight with words).  See graphic below.

The weird thing about this type of good fighting is that humans outside the ring get to join in.  They call it voting.  It’s like cheering for the donkey or elephant by writing down which one you like best on a piece of paper.

What’s the prize at the end?  It appears to be bragging rights and the ability to boss around a bunch of people in a giant white house.  I’m still working on this.  The point is that Jet says that most Americans never box or wrestle; they seldom take Judo lessons but they all need to vote.

Here’s my lesson of the day… It’s okay if you don’t like to wrangle like a dog or fight, Judo style, against another person. However, if you’re a U.S. citizen, you need to vote because it’s the only type of fighting where everyone wins.  – Even the spectators.

Q Okay, the question of the day is from Brinkley who asked:  I’m only 4 months old and still have lots to learn. I was visiting a new friend yesterday and he snapped at me when I took his toy.  I just wanted to play so why was he so mean?

Dear Brinkley:

You look so sad and puppies should always be happy.  I'm sorry your new friend wasn't friendly.  It may be that he thought you were stealing his toy and it upset him.  On the other hand, he may have just been a bonehead (my name for dog jerks).  Just remember that most dogs and humans are inherently good so don't judge either one too harshly based on one bad event.