“Dog Strikes Back at Cyberspace” brought this reply, or so I thought, from good friend Steve Shoemaker (aka “Shoe” ) in Urbana, Illinois. He seemed to have taken Sebastian’s side in the Shoe War.

Verse  —  “Heal”

I taught my dog to heel,

not so she’d be a slave,

but so she’d always be

safe to walk alongside of me.

…

When first I used a lead,

a leash and collar, she

would pull and jerk and try

to run away.  She thought that I

…

was cruel and mean to make

her suffer so.  But now

she leaves her pen with glee

as we, a team, explore the world.

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, January 26, 2012

NOTE: The word “my” was not bolded or italicized in the Steve’s email.  “Views from Edge” bolded and italicized “my” on the assumption that the Verse’s author was holding himself up as a man of virtue in contrast to the bad dog owner who hadn’t trained his dog properly. It turns out that “Dog Strikes Back at Cyberspace” wasn’t anywhere near his radar screen when he penned his Verse. Follow-up email from Steve: “Stop being so self-centered–I was not thinking of you and your sodden shoe at all when I wrote this. I wrote this for ___________” (who had asked him for a poem on healing in preparation for a sermon). 🙂

I think I’ll take a trip to Urbana for training… as a dog trainer…and healing.