The curious case of the laughing dog.

by Ben
(Greensburg, PA)

When I was a child I had a puppy born on this very day over 30 years ago. I had this puppy from the day he was born. He was the runt of the litter from my family’s Keeshonds.

Even though he was the runt he grew to be one of the largest puppies in the litter. What really set him apart was his laugh. When we would run and play in our yard and the game of chase would quickly become a game of “sweep the leg” with my pup knocking me down. We’d inevitably end up in a pile, at which point I would scratch his belly. I discovered that if I scratched under his front legs where a humans armpits would be, he would make a coughing sort of chuckle noise. He stopped when I stopped. If I started scratching him again there, he’d start “laughing” again. I never had a ticklish dog before and certainly not one who laughed before. He seemed to really enjoy this and would even roll over until I tickled him. He was truly a dog that understood the value of laughter. His name was Thunder, and he was truly one of a kind.