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his side and knelt down. I tried to talk to him and pat his back in a soothing manner. The coughing continued, but now he was definitely aiming the end of his snout directly at the floor. He sure seemed to be expecting something to exit. Being the good dog owner that I am, I stayed right next to him even though the possibility of coughing up some food or a bit of a toy seemed imminent.

With a final hack, my pitbull-Labrador spat a brown mass onto the floor in front of him. At first I didn't know what I was looking at, but no sooner did my brain process the saliva-drenched object on the floor than I felt an overwhelming urge to throw up myself and backed away in panicky disgust. The lump on the floor was a curled up, but still fiendishly large wolf spider! I'm not a big fan of bugs anyway, and my stomach twisted up in knots of true repulsion when I realized that this spider had been stuck in my dog's throat for the past five minutes at least!

Oh, and the show wasn't over! I looked from the spider to my dog in horrified amazement, and was dumbfounded that he was looking at the spider still and wagging his tail tentatively. As I looked back at the spider, it popped out of its curled up position and scampered to the space between the refrigerator and the floor, where it had apparently come from, and vanished! Apparently, going down a dog's throat and out again was no big deal for this awful beast of a spider. And the incident sure didn't spoil my dumb dog's sporting mood either, for he dashed back to the spot where the spider had fled and began his intense snuffling again!

Having no interest in a repeat performance, I swatted my dog out of the kitchen and closed the door to keep him out. I hurriedly gathered my things, being sure to keep a wide perimeter around the refrigerator all the while, and then bolted out the door to get to work (and away from the horrible menace that I pictured lurking under the refrigerator). Now, whenever my pitbull-Labrador sniffs at the furniture or appliances around the house, I can't help but cringe!

Learn more about this author, Kathy Rusniak.
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