This is a DK BrokenRoots diary. We are trying to organize around issues facing and otherwise regarding homeless and otherwise disenfranchised people. Our group is at this URL. All are welcome.
I've spent quite a few years of my life in circumstances where homeless people were part of it, like it or not. Sometimes they were people I encountered while bicycling down the street, sometimes they were people more or less camped out across the street. Sometimes they were even friends.
I currently live in Carlsbad, New Mexico, where the homeless population is small. One way or the other, they get assimilated or run off.
But we do have our occasional beggar. We also have our more than occasional letter to the newspaper suggesting we should make these people go away. "What are they doing here?" people write. "Why can't they get a job or stop sitting on the same street corners with the same signs, week after month?"
They are perturbing to many here, these ragged people. Thus, we don't have many. But we do have some.
I don't like giving money to the same beggars time after time, myself. I'm more interested in "how can we move the situation up?" I think; "These people need meaningful work. They don't necessarily need jobs - in fact, many of them quite likely could not handle your average job. But they need meaningful work."
In 2007, I was having some trouble here with unwell men, who were harassing me on the street. As a bicyclist, in a town of only 20-25,000, where there are not too many bicyclists, I become something of a target for the unwell. These experiences were stressing me out, and though I was unsure I was in a secure enough position to take on the responsibility of owning a dog again, the stress level of these harassments drove me to it. I eventually went and volunteered for the local animal shelter and found Casey.
But I didn't take him on in a total state of solitary, though I live in such mostly. And I didn't rush into this. I agonized about it for months, before I addressed the shelter. I knew once I got into the shelter, my doglessness would end quickly. So, before I took on the phalanx of doomed orphans, I asked for advice.
I was bicycling back from one of our grocery stores, and I passed a beggar on the street, one I'd seen around before, one with an especially impressive dog. Funny how beggars who have dogs often have really laid back ones...well, natural selection of the street, maybe.
And, being the liberal softie I am, I had a $10 in my pocket left in change, and I'd been thinking dogs, and here was this tired looking guy with his dog, late afternoon, end of the begging day.
So I thought; "Maybe this guy, who seems very unlike me or the sorts of people I tend to associate with, on the rare occasions I do associate with people in person - maybe he knows something about dogs I don't."
So I stopped, said hello to the fellow, said hello to his dog. Then I told him I was looking to acquire a dog at the animal shelter and wondered if he'd take $10 for some advice on how to choose such a critter.
He brightened right up, and started in happily. "Well," he said; "first, you should get yourself a good ol' hound dog." Not bad advice, considering that the hunting dog group includes breeds that are bred well to tolerate stress, including gunshots. Labradors, though not considered hounds, are one of the most low-stress breeds of dogs, and are surely bred for hunting.
He went on to explain how these are the most laidback and easy of dogs. "Don't go for one who is jumping up all over the front of the cage and trying to lick you. They will more likely have that, anxiety thing." (I think he meant separation anxiety.)
The advice I paid for was more extensive than this, and these are only the salient points I remember.
When I picked Casey out of the bunch at the animal shelter, I did indeed note that he did not run up to the front of the cage and try to lick my hands, that he stood there in a reasonable manner, just sort of checking out what was going on. I did think about the advice of the fellow on the street, who told me in no uncertain terms; "Pick a dog that isn't too needy. Pick a dog who won't go nuts if you aren't around."
I've been a sucker for collies since I was a kid, and my border collie has his problems, as border collies often do. But he's a pretty good guy, and gives me much less trouble than I expected. Knows how to take care of himself, for a collie.
And when he gets a little older, I'd like to get him a friend. He's a sociable guy, and would appreciate that. A good ol' girlfriend, of the houndish variety. Definitely.