A doggone sight to behold

Recently I had a five-day stay at the assisted living facility The Commons at Greenbriar. The highlight was a little 5-pound Yorkshire terrier named Buddy. He belonged to the director Kelly Doctor. Buddy was a performer. My granddaughter, Laine Vicarel, brought her constant companion little 4-pound Allie, also a Yorkie, to meet Buddy and see how they would hit it off. The reception was frigid if not frozen.

They did not want any part of each other. They were fixed. Allie belongs to the Murray family, Laine’s very close friends. I have always liked dogs but never owned one.

I baby-sat my daughter Linda Krieger’s Shih Tzu Polo for 14 years, when she went to work each day. My other daughter, Sandy Vicarel, had a beautiful Shih Tzu named Tessa, which I occasionally watched.

My family never owned a dog, but they elected to keep a cat. They didn’t have money to buy a mouse trap, so Rusty the cat did the job and paid his way.

And now for the rest of the story.

During World War II, our ship the U.S.S. LST 582 was preparing for the big one — the invasion of Japan. We spent time in the Philippines on maneuvers.

We had a little dog mascot named Peso, a male mongrel. We were on R&R (rest and recuperation) on the Island of Saipan. I was in charge of a small boat load of shipmates, landing craft personnel (LCVP), about 25 of them, plus our dog Peso. We hadn’t been ashore for months.

Our small boat hit the beach; the ramp went down. Peso was the first one off, and he made a bee line for an LCVP from another ship.

Guess what? He made a conjugal contact with a female Peso. No telling how many little Pesos were the result of this pent-up volcanic eruption.

Michael J. Lacivita is a Youngstown retiree and member of the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame and the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.