Joey's Take -- The Back Yard

One of the differences between dogs and people is that we know the value of a good back yard.

Hey, when I've got business to do, I head for the back yard. There's no way you're going to see me tucking my tail between my legs and heading half way around the world! Nope, when it's time to do my business, I want it close by where I can make sure things get cleaned up properly.

Like any good dog, I invest a lot of time and energy into protecting my back yard. I'm OK with all the birds, squirrels, chipmunks and deer who share our yard. But I watch them. And if I see a fox sneaking up, I sound the alarm. There's no way you're going to catch me acting friendly with a fox -- not even for a photo op.

I've also learned that back yards take a lot of work. If you ignore a back yard, it quickly becomes a tangled mass of overgrown weeds and moldy leaves. And if you ignore it too long, you might as well say goodby to all the effort you originally put in to cultivating it. You'll have to rip everything out and start all over. Believe me, it's a whole lot easier to just maintain it in the first place.

(Since these same lessons can be applied to our country's back yard in Latin America, I must -- for the sake of complete transparency -- disclose my partiality to this region of the world. I'll take a chihuahua over a Chinese crested any day! And as a Portuguese water dog, I owe my life, and the survival of my entire breed, to Conchita Cintron Castello, a lady bullfighter who was a civil attache at the Peruvian embassy in Lisbon.)