Her brother gave her a cross-eyed dog
he couldn’t sell as a present
although he knows she hates dogs.
She had to pay for an operation t
o remove one of its eyes
so it wouldn’t go blind.  

Whether you like a dog or not,
once you have a dog, the dog is family.  

The second is an Australian Shepherd
that wandered onto the property.
It has two coats of fur.
The yard stays slathered with dog hair
that goes up her nose and into her mouth
whenever she takes a breath.  

The other two are rescues
that were beaten by their people.  

A fawn once wandered from its mother.
The four dogs chased it into the pond.
The fawn came out on the other side
and slipped in the woods but so did the dogs.
I tried to call them off, she said,
but the dogs paid me no mind.  

She listened to the piercing screams
as they tore the fawn to pieces.

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