"Whatcha dog's name?"

Digger! (c'mon. I can't be the only one with that Fisher Price commercial still stuck in the craw.)

Now this one...


she was no digger. A mouser, maybe. She could sniff out the trunks in the woods nestling field mice, and maybe she'd get one -- in her prime -- before they scattered under fallen leaves. We also had a live-trap for mice in the garage.

That was the sporting chance they were afforded: you opened the box with her a few feet away, giving them a chance to run. Lots of times, they made it. And no. You wouldn't see the same mouse back in the box twice.

But that was her feral side. Mostly, she was a lap dog:
Runt of the litter, lab/collie mix, seventh-grade confirmation gift to me from my cousin-sponsor, who had a place up in Spooner. So a country dog, perfect size for our household. Mine, but truth be told, she was my parents' dog, who kept her when I went off to college and beyond. She's buried by the side of the house now, nine or ten years gone.

Because she was trained right -- by us, no paid training -- she could go off leash without taking off (it amazes me how many dogs do that), and would chase the ball down the driveway right up to the sidewalk but come to a dead stop before entering the street. At the end, my parents took her in to be put down -- it was time, I think she was almost 19. Dry food, lots of long walks, inside attention.

If you've had a dog like that, you don't forget her. That's why Michael Vick's alleged crimes are drawing such outrage in what can often be an outrageously cruel world.

"Nothing specific to Vick, just in general, dogfighting is flat-out wrong. Period. Regardless of who it is and who's involved," said Robert Ferguson, Green Bay Packers' veteran wide receiver. "That's cut-and-dried, black-and-white. It's against the law. It's what every civilized person in America should think about. If I could bring you some pictures of dogs who've been in dogfights, you'd understand.

"Anytime you get a high-profile guy like (Vick) involved in something as serious as dogfighting, of course it's going to heighten the awareness."

Ferguson said he has always had neighbors in his Green Bay-area subdivision ask about his pit bulls and whether they were dangerous. He believes the breed is unfairly singled out as being aggressive and mean, and he hopes in the wake of the Vick case, people blame the men who trained the dogs rather than the dogs themselves.

"People way up here in Green Bay are now thinking because it's a pit bull, because Michael Vick's name is involved, that they're fighting dogs," Ferguson said. "I have to explain to them, it's not the breed of dogs that fight, it's the people.

"Anyone in my neighborhood will tell you - the only thing my dogs will do is lick you to death. I walk 'em every day and they're social. They're like any other dog. I think any dog will bite. Not just a pit bull, any dog. A labrador will bite you. A chihuahua, a little Taco Bell dog, will bite you. It's the way you bring a dog up and how you raise him."