Aunt Mary's Doghouse

DID YOU SEE THAT DOG
DO A SPINNING HOOK KICK?

I grew up as an only child. I must say that I was very timid growing up and was picked on by bullies one too many times. This used to frustrate me, but unfortunately I did not have a brother to turn to. This changed when I was about eleven years old and my "brother" Fritz came along.

Fritz was a miniature Doxie who weighed only about twelve pounds, but he was the toughest twelve pounds ever packaged together and created by God. Fritz would never back down to any confrontation. Once we realized that he would not hesitate to attack a German shepherd or a Great Dane we exercised a lot more caution in letting him out of the house. However, if he saw a dog that was smaller than he was, he would treat it with a great amount of gentleness. He had this temperament from a very early age, so I came to the conclusion that it was born into him.

At the same time this was one very gentle and loving dog. He would always cuddle with you especially if he felt you needed him to. My favorite quality about him was that if I said "Fritz, please come here and give me a kiss", it did not matter where he was or what he was doing, he came and did what I asked.

When Fritz died in 1988 I was devastated. I spent about a year in a state of depression, not knowing what to do with myself. Then one day, while thinking of him as always, I decided to enroll in a martial arts school. I found it to be a significant challenge. I was twenty-seven years old and my instructor made us earn every rank we received. I felt driven to succeed and I knew why. I was taking the lessons of toughness that Fritz had taught me and putting them to use every time I faced a significant challenge in the dojo. However, using the principles of martial arts, I also worked on my gentle side and once again took this cue from my loving brother. When I "retired" from active training I was a third degree black belt, I was far less timid than I was before I started and I had yet another positive memory of the one God sent to me for many beautiful reasons.

Deacon Joe Dwyer

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