All of a Sudden......

I was thinking sociologically when I was up at Lake Geneva with my husband, my dogs and his family over Labor Day weekend. My in laws rent a house on the lake every Labor Day weekend, and my hubs and I bring up our two labradors to go swimming in the lake. In preparation for this big outing, my husband, my father in law and I built a ramp the weekend before for the dogs to use to climb out of the lake as the pier is too tall for them to jump directly onto. As I watched my dogs go flying off the pier (and climbing up onto the ramp for another toss of the tennis ball), I was thinking about functionalism. No, really, I thought of functionalism! Not the functionality of the ramp, but of the function of dogs in society. People used to have dogs to help in the hunt, 4 legged garbage compactors cleaning up humanity's junk, provide warmth at night through snuggling....but it was not until the post WWII era when dogs-as-pets became a big deal (c'mon...you can't have a suburban 2 story, 2.2 child, white picket fence house without a dog!). And now, dogs-as-children/family members is the norm, not the exception. Today, 63% of American households have a pet, and we spend $45 billion annually on our pets (more than people spend on baby food!). An unscientific poll of my freshman Geography classes shows that a majority of them feel that their dog is a part of the family, just as much as the people are. Which brings me to my two dogs, Sadie and Stella, and their custom made dog ramp. They are definately examples of how the function of dogs in society has shifted since the Stone Age. I am one of those people who dresses them up at Halloween (yes, I will post pictures), and makes sure to have baby asprin cut into a dose just enough for Sadie, who is almost 9 and sounded like Rice Krispies when she got up this morning (snap, crackle and pop went her joints). And I'm OK with that.
Edited to Add: I actually am re-posting this from first semester as an example of how your "All of a Sudden" blog posts should work. This post makes me nostalgic as a week after we shot this video, my older dog (the one who jumps in first) got diagnosed with bone cancer, and had an amputation a week after that. Talk about treating dogs as humans--Sadie got chemo for 4 months. Geesh! I wonder if she will swim in circles next year with only one front leg to steer....... :)