Rotten Riley

By Tom Schreck,

author of On the Ropes, A Duffy Dombrowski Mystery

That's me and Riley.

Riley's a rescue dog--meaning someone gave him up and he needed a home. Turns out some old lady kept him in a cage all day and called him "Rotten" Riley.

Some group of dog people got him but they said he was aggressive and they recommended that he get put down. Besides that he wasn't a pure bred--he's half bloodhound and somehow that made him less than.

Well, a nice woman named Heather thought the dog group was nuts so she adopted Riley and didn't put him down but added him to her collection of 10 unwanted bassets. She put his photo on Petfinder.com, a spot for rescued dogs.

My first dog Buddy had just died suddenly and we had Agnes, a bloodhound and Wilbur, a basset left. When I saw Riley's lineage something inside of me said he's might be for us. When I called my wife she said he was definitely for us and made me call the woman and set up a road trip.

My wife is like that.

Riley became ours and he didn't come without issues. He was aggressive in his own way and bit both of us once or twice when we broke up fights between him and Wilbur but that was a long time ago. He barks when he gets his food and he does this weird thing where he controls which dog gets to go through the doorway first.

He also took and passed his therapy dog test.

That's right--Ol "Rotten" Riley, once on death row, is a certified therapy dog. He goes to the VA Hospital and visits the locked psychiatric ward where's he's known to steal milk, snacks and sandwiches from the patients.

Nobody complains.

And people who don't smile much smile a little more when Riley takes their milk.

May we all be as rotten.



People like Heather and the rescue groups take care of dogs like Riley and they spend their own money getting them fed, giving them medical care and everything else that goes into caring for a pet. Sometimes they do fundraisers at pet stores and other places. Next time you go past them give them some money or maybe even adopt your own rotten pet.

My very first book signing for On The Ropes benefited the New England Basset Hound Rescue--and even though there were lots of Red Sox fans there I still gave them all the proceeds.

Reasons to Hate the Red Sox

by Tom Schreck

My book, "On the Ropes, A Duffy Dombrowski Mystery" is now out and in stores. It takes place in and around New York City.

My main character is a not-so-social worker who moonlights as a bad professional boxer. When one of his crack addicted schizophrenic clients gets murdered he decides to find out why and it leads him into a world of internet porn and terrorism.

And then there are the Red Sox fans.

As heinous as internet porn and terrorism are they don't come close to Red Sox fans. Fortunately for me the Yankees have just swept the latest three game series. Unfortunately for me I have to spend the weekend in Cape Cod where I will be surrounded by these intolerable people.

The various shrinks I've seen over the years have told me that when something upsets me I should write it down and some how expunge it from gunking up my mental and emotional processes. I doubt this will work but I want to be a good patient.

Anyway, here goes--The top ten reasons I hate the Red Sox and their fans:

1. Their smelly old minor league stadium that they try to pass off as nostalgic

2. They all talk funny

3. The fact that they think its cool that Jimmy Fallon made a movie about them.

4. They forget that that pathetic Carlton Fisk motioning for his home run to stay fair--one of their most dramatic historic moments---happened in a year where they didn't win the world series.

5. That Ted Williams--the guy they say was the greatest hitter in history--batted something like .205 in the post season.

6. The annoying way they all sing "Sweet Caroline" at the stadium and think its cool instead of something they should be embarrassed about.

7. The way they ran Buckner out of town and blamed him for blowing the series forgetting they went on to lose game seven the next night against the Mets.

8. The way they rationalized a thirty-something Pedro Martinez throwing a seventy-something Don Zimmer to the ground.

9. They were the last team in baseball to integrate.

10. Half their team looks like the frat boys at the equally despicable Boston College (did I mention I went to Notre Dame?)

Sorry--Ten isn't going to be enough.

11. Schilling’s allegedly bloody socks

12. This whole "curse is over" and "my useless Boston life now has meaning"--as if one win in 86 years is something to be proud of. See you in 2090!

The shrinks lied.

I don't feel any better.

And I still have to drive to Cape Cod.