How time beats swords into plowshares

Wait long enough and even your enemies will be your friends. 

Saturday morning the dog and I walked to the east end of the paved road.  As we walked along we met a trio of small dogs.  These dogs have a strange story that goes back a few years.  Before these dogs were born their owner had one dog, a gray wire haired Terrier.  I never knew the Terrier's name but I knew it did not like me or my dog.  It would bark at us incessantly as we walked by it's house.  My dog came to dislike the dog because it growled at him when he approached it.  Finally a truce was reached and we were allowed to walk by the house.  The Terrier would sit on the porch and watch us in disgust as we passed by.  This truce held for a year or so until the Terrier's owner decided to get a female Beagle as a mate for him.  Instantly the Beagle picked up on the hate the Terrier had for my dog and started a new war with us as we walked by.  Their ferocious attacks on my dog occurred so often that I considered dropping that part of the road from my walks.  Eventually the Beagle became pregnant and had 5 puppies which made her even more territorial.   The puppies grew bigger and soon were out barking at us as we passed.    The gaggle of dogs and puppies near the road was of course a recipe for disaster and eventually the Terrier, the Beagle and two of the puppies were hit by cars.  The three puppies that remained are now the adults shown near my dog in the photograph.  They really like my dog and me, and will walk along with us for a while when we pass by. The difference between these dogs and their parents is truly striking.   They are three very mixed breeds of dog, all male, one curly haired, one wire haired and one straight haired.   I guess their mother must have wandered far and wide to have the fathers of her puppies be so radically different.  Although the now grown puppies appear so very different from one another that you would not guess they were from the same litter, they are an unshakable family.   I often see them running through the fields chasing rabbits together and seemingly having a great time.  They are truly living a dog's life. Thanks for reading my blog today. Bye.