Let Lying Dogs...

Sketchy Circumstances
I've been lying to you. Not a big lie, just a young lie. It's my illustration. It's a lie. It used to be me, but it's not anymore. I don't like lying (although sometimes I think most of my life is a lie). And this is probably why the old drawing of the young me has been replaced with a new drawing of the old me. And I don't care whether you like it or not. I think I look distinguished, but I can also see the pain in my face that you couldn't see before. Hey, it happens. Arthritis isn't an easy disease for a dog. Remember one of your years with arthritis is seven of mine. I looked at the new picture for a long time last night and I think it will scare the puppies. Good. I also think my gentle side won't have an easy time coming to the surface of this new face -- but then it was always a stretch getting the gentle side out in front anyway. But back to this lying thing. I can't lie to the other dogs. They smell the arthritis every time they poke their cold wet one in my behind, but humans are different. They don't understand all the information they could get about me if they would just take a sniff, so I feel guilty when I mislead them. Like not telling them I have arthritis. So maybe this new picture will let humans know that I'm not the frisky pup I used to be -- something is ravaging my joints. And if this new face doesn't tell them, I'll take a piece of their femur for lunch. I'm not going to get all touchy-feely and ask you to write and tell me whether you like the new picture, but if you have nothing else to do, drop me a line at creak@creakyjoints.com. Hearing from you mongrels is work because I'll have to write you back. But just this once, I'll do it.