The Roanoker - March/April 2021 - 54

Patrick Bailey
and George

A 'Sled Dog' in Roanoke

Patrick Bailey, a 31-year-old contractor in
Roanoke, can attest to the practical value
of a dog because George works for his
keep. He's not herding sheep or rescuing
snow-bound skiers, but the year-and-ahalf-old mixed breed is serving a valuable
and personal service as Patrick's " sled
dog. "
The sled is a skateboard, used by
Patrick to keep in shape and even with
George doing the pulling, " I get a lot of core
exercise " with the 60-pound dog pulling the
160-pound man. " It's easy for George. "
George was a stray at Smith Mountain
Lake when Patrick found him and tried
to find his home. He had no luck and
adopted the pup. They've been virtually
inseparable since. In fact, the highlight of
most days for George is pulling Patrick.
" He gets so excited when he knows we're
going to Wasena Park, " says George. " He
has a bunch of energy. And the kids love
him. They ask if he's a sled dog. " And the
response is, " Yep. " -DS

friendly. My dogs have always been able
to read my mood. I can just lay on Lucy
when I'm sad. She knows when my car is
coming down the hill and waits for me
anxiously to pull into the garage. "
Becky Mushko, a writer and retired
teacher, has 13 " official " cats and one that
is working toward that status. They live
on a farm in Penhook. Ten of the cats are
inside, four outside. She allows that " cats
are great judges of character, and they're
highly selective in whom they trust.
They're very loving toward the people
they like. My cats work ridding the place
of mice and rats. "
Sandra McCown is puzzled. " I cannot
understand how people could drive up
a dirt road and dump a litter on the
roadside. That is part of the reason I have
so many [nine cats]. They drop dogs off,
too. I'm full up with animals. I can't take
any more. "
Christopher Fury, who has an English
mastiff (Anne Bonney) and an adopted
cat (Sen. George Bailey) simply loves
animals. " I like their kinship and love. It
feels great to have a cat purring on your
chest or a big dog nuzzled up at your feet,
and sometimes both. "

Christopher Fury
and Anne Bonney

Michelle Belton has two cats and " I
didn't want either. I don't particularly like
them. I rescued one from a crackhouse
and the other from my son's college
romance. They don't take up much room
and we can leave them without a sitter
for a few days. They don't elicit a lot of
emotion from me, but they don't upset
me, either. They let me live in my house
and I let them. "
Stephanie Sowder Dorris puts it this
way: " I read an interesting article once
where a psychologist talked about the
fact the people who hate cats, are often
54 MARCH/APRIL 2021

dominating, control freaks. The fact that
cats are so independent drives them crazy.
As an admittedly bossy, somewhat control
freak myself, I love cats, so I'm not sure
how accurate that interpretation is. But
whenever cat haters start to complain
about our furry feline friends, I like to
bust that insight out and see what they
say. "
Lara Lang of Vinton says, " I am
a cat person, and [her fiancé, Heath
Pascoe] was a dog person. My kitties
are transforming him into a cat dad. He
used to get so mad when they would walk
across his face in the mornings because
they were ready for food. Cat people fully
understand this, but dog people are like,
'what the hell!' "
Candy Long is unequivocal: " Cats are
jerks! They knock stuff off counters and
shelves just for meanness. They hop up
on kitchen counters with their kitty litter
feet and claw one's favorite chair, window
screens, etc. And the scratches and bites! "
Sherry Franklin remembers that " I was
visiting a friend once who had a cat and I
noticed the cat just sat on the coffee table
staring at me. I was sitting on the couch
directly in front of it starting to feel very
uncomfortable. All of a sudden it jumped
from the table straight at me, claws out,
fur standing up on its back. I luckily was
holding a pillow on my lap and smacked
it across the room before it got to me.
I've never liked cats since. Sneaky little
[bleep]! "
Rhinda North tells a common story:
" Ever since that little black and white
kitty followed me home from grammar
school, I was a goner. "
Jennifer Grover says, " Before my
husband died, we had two of each. They
slept curled up together, but cats were
the boss, even though the dogs were 75
pounds each. "
Kathy Guy, whose career is live theatre,
thinks " dogs need their humans and want
the connection. Cats ... want to establish
some degree of hierarchy in which the
human is beholden to them. "
Jen K. Ward theorizes that " to my
dogs, I am the golden mom who can do
no wrong. To my cats, I'm the slave they
demand I be, which occasionally makes
me their favorite and my dogs even more
insistent on showing me that I'm their
golden mom. " I
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