Summer Blast from the Past

Beelzebub hated it when we pointed guns at one another, probably having to do with his early training with my father. But he would stand between a gun and which ever of his kids it was pointed at, barking at the person with the gun. This is, in many instances, a very useful trait for a pet to have.

However, when you are kids, trying to play cops and robbers, or, more importantly, attempting to have a squirt gun fight in the heat of summer, the fact that the dog did not distinguish between real (or even realistic looking) guns and those made of neon green plastic put a slight crimp in things.

Often, we would leave him in the house, despite the fact that our dog wanted to be with us, and we wanted to be with him.

My father, however, found a sneaky way around this.

In the age of the first giant pump action laundry detergent containers, he waited until a giant ERA bottle was empty then rinsed it out thoroughly. The container was HUGE, holding more water than any of our super soakers, and the pump – meant for liquid the density of laundry detergent – was strong. That thing had range to rival the super soakers, as well.

Its only real problem was aim, but my father had much better aim than my brother or I to begin with, so that wasn’t as big an issue.

Its biggest benefit, though, was that it in no way resembled a gun, so Beelzebub, our ever faithful, ever protecting German Sheppard had absolutely no issues with it being pointed at one of his kids. For us, that meant we no longer got a warning bark and instead simply got soaked.