Jam's Tail

By Fred

Our friends periodically point out that Jam's tail is unusual. To be honest, it is a prodigious tail, ending in a dark butterscotch tuft that would seem more appropriately attached to a lion. It curls around double at times--big, thick, and bushy--until it cannot help inviting speculation about his lineage.

Because that's the most common question we get: "What kind of dog is that?" people will say while staring at his tail, as if his father or mother might be a squirrel or beaver. And yet look into his eyes and there can be no doubt; he's pure Lab.

Can't we just love a dog for what's in his heart and just forget about this or that gene on the DNA string that might be from a lion or maybe even mongoose? I, for one, won't engage in speculation such a thing. He's a dog. What would you have us do, send him into the woods to fend for himself?

But still, there it is. The tail curls and twists in all directions, twitching with the biological memory of some long dead ancestor that was not exactly a dog.

A fox, probably.