A life guided by dog

His official name was Fandango, he was Fang to his friends. He was my best friend. Having an 80 pound dog friend defines the kind of trouble you can get into.We skipped school together and wandered the streets of Cambridge. A few years later I began hitchhiking cross country. While many kids run to cities, I ran to the mountains and to Rainbow Gatherings. People who give rides to a young girl with an 80 pound dog are generally well behaved. Fandango realized early on that he was in charge of teaching me. He taught me humility. One lesson went like this: I was barely 11 and doing laundry at the laundromat. It was early afternoon and the laundromat was empty except for me and Fang. Fang was wandering in and out as laundry and laundromats are not interesting to dogs. At one point he wanders in, looks lovingly at me as he releases a green, festering cloud of dog fart. He then casually saunters out to the sidewalk. A couple walks in, into the cloud and look at me. I am the only one in the building. My dog appears at the window smiling at the scene he has created.