[pennsiveguy]

In this joyous season I'm always reminded of a great pet-related story from back in my early days in the lumber business.

Sales, in this first operation I worked at, was a really personal business; the same guys had been selling to the same buyers and accounts for 20 or 30 years. These guys and their customers went to each others' kids' First Communions (yeah, very Catholic), graduations and weddings and such.

A Christmas tradition was to send personalised Christmas cards back and forth, often a postcard with a family photo on the front.

One particular salesman on a particular year had his Christmas cards printed using a family photo taken in front of the Christmas tree, with their beloved German Shepherd seated amongst them. He sent out 150 or 200 of these to customers and prospects all over the Upper Midwest, having handwritten season's tidings on each one.

Normally the only response to such a gesture would would be a reciprocal card and perhaps an eventual thank-you phone call.

But for this particular salesman on this particular year, the response was much more immediate and enthusiastic. This was long before email or text messaging. Only a couple of days after dumping all the cards in the mail, he began getting deluged with dozens of voicemails like "Hey Tom, your dog's really got the holiday spirit - Merry Christmas!" or "Tom, I wish I was as excited about Christmas as your dog is!"

Upon a closer look at a copy of the card of which he'd sent out hundreds of copies, the German Shepherd had a shit-eating grin and a massive hard-on.

Season's Greetings, all. Give your critters lots of love.

And keep your Viagra out of reach until the Christmas card photos have been taken.