mutts

I'm mostly fond of all dogs, those that don't jump up on me or that don't live in the same house with me. Dogs are basically my friends, like good ol' Duffy next door. They're just not my up-close, 24-7 buddies.
(Cats? Well, with me, cats are something else. I'd really rather not have a cat anywhere in my block. Or the neighborhood. Or the city.}
But back to dogs. One trouble that dogs have is that they often get blamed for things they haven't done and aren't responsible for.
And they can't defend themselves. Like when someone is called a "dirty dog." Or when "dog" is the word describing some very nice -- but very plain -- lady.
Lately, we've been hearing a lot about certain "blue dogs" in Washington, D.C. These, of course, are members of Congress, the Blue Dog Coalition.
They should not, probably, be called "dirty" dogs. At least not automatically. They are simply a bunch of elected Democrats who sometimes like to wander off the reservation. They like to be able to slip off and go frolic with Republicans in certain tense moments when loyalty to their own party seems, oh, just too hard to bear.
Colorado's John Salazar is one of these Blue Dog Democrats.
There are a few other notable canine colors as well. "Black Dog" is a song by Led Zeppelin. "Red dog" is said to be the color of the jersey worn by a defensive player in a football scrimmage.
And another color has been lifted from an old, everlovin' composition by W. C. Handy, the "Yellow Dog Blues."
Handy's particular "Yellow Dog" -- technically the "Yazoo Delta" -- was once a short-line railroad in the state of Mississippi. The name appears in song as the answer to a love-smitten maiden who is tearfully asking where in the world her easy rider has gone.
It turns out "he's gone where the Southern meets the Yellow Dog," which in real life would have been in the vicinity of Moorhead, Mississippi, where the Southern and Yazoo Delta lines actually crossed.
History also tells us that years ago the term "yellow dog" was applied to the shameful labor contracts that bosses used to be able to enforce on employees: Making them agree never to join a union while working at that place.
My all-time, historical dog-color favorite, though, comes from an old southern political phrase: ". . .yellow dog Democrat."
What was that? Well, you probably guessed it. In the old days, if his only choice on the ballot was a Republican or a yellow dog, he'd vote for the yellow dog.