Old dog, no new tricks

My wife and I live with a pack of dogs -- one a pup, one in his prime, one a few years past his prime, and an old girl whose expiration date is long past due.

As much as I love dogs I never expected to have four of them at the same time. Three, sure, but not four. Four is encroaching upon weird cat lady territory.

It’s not happenstance, but instead part of a great plan. When each dog reached its prime, I’d get another puppy. Spacing them four or five years apart would assure I’d always have a dog in its prime to hunt, an older dog that was slowing down, and a puppy in training.

Unfort...