Who would’ve thought there’d be a day reserved for this?  I happen to own a dog who thinks he’s a cat.  He has many characteristics, like preening himself, curling up in a tight ball, being a loner and occasionally coughs up a hairball.  I imagine it’s from all that preening and licking.  In any event, I can’t see setting aside a day to be aware of it.  Who wants to be exposed to hairballs?

We’ve never had a dog like this and we’ve had a number of them in our 53 years together.  Dogs are different than cats, mostly in their independence.  Cats can hide in small spaces.  They don’t often run to meet you when you get home and want your constant attention.  They prefer to be by themselves, get fed and watered and then go off alone.

Our dog has a habit of eating paper whenever he can get his paws on some.  He loves toilet paper, paper towels, Kleenex, any kind of paper.  I chalk it up to maybe a lack of fiber in his diet, but this along with the licking and preening creates some interesting looking hairballs.  Not that examine them, but if I did, I’m sure there might be a copy of the newspaper in there.  Come to think of it, this might explain the loss of my novel – oh, that was on my computer, not hard copy.  I wouldn’t put it past him to find a way though.

So today, as you are cleaning up yet another hairball, remember that a day has been set aside in observance of that very thing.  Go figure,