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doin’?”
    “It’s more psychological than physical now, even though he had a bad tear in his shoulder.”
    “And you’re limpin’ pretty well. That’s why they call them “police dogs.” They can be effective.”
    “Especially when you don’t want them to be.”
    “Yeah. Well, my records show that King had all theshots. With the old vaccine, there was a small percentage of animals who were actually infected with rabies, but the newer vaccines are foolproof. Anyway, it was too long a period after the shot for the shot to have anything to do with it,” Fox said. He stood a stocky five feet ten inches, with a college wrestler’s neck and shoulders. Sid hadn’t thought about it before, but it suddenly struck him as ironic that a man with the name of Fox would become a veterinarian.
    “I didn’t think it could have. Anyway, as I told you on the phone, the laboratory reports were negative.”
    “Yes.”
    “What else could turn him that way?”
    “Hard to say. It wasn’t an uncomfortable day. The dog wasn’t in any kind of pain?”
    “No, he seemed perfect, healthy, and happy.”
    “You didn’t notice any change in behavior coming on . . . irritability, loss of appetite, lethargy?”
    “No, not that I can recall. I was away from home up until the day before it happened, but Clara didn’t notice anything and my boy didn’t say anything.”
    “They might not have noticed. Is it possible your son did something different to the dog, something he’s afraid to tell you about?”
    “No ... at least I don’t think so. Why?”
    “Well maybe you remember the case of that St. Bernard that turned on this baby and killed it. It was a few years back. Same situation—unusual behavior that no one expected. Later, It was discovered that the baby had shoved a ballpoint pen deep into the dog’s ear.”
    “Good God!”
    “Exactly.”
    “Well, the dog wasn’t only after Bobby. When I came out to help, he turned on me, too.”
    “Had to feel threatened at this point.”
    “I’ve been thinking about something else.” Sid hesitatedand then leaned forward in his chair. “Do you think it’s possible for a dog to suffer some mental illness?” He was happy that Fox didn’t smile.
    “What did you have in mind?”
    “Schizophrenia, paranoia .. .”
    “You mean just like that? Get it like someone gets a common cold? No, I don’t think that’s possible. However, there are all sorts of new studies out on the psychology of animals. Dogs, especially, have personalities. It’s what makes them so popular as pets, and I suppose it’s within the realm of possibility that whatever has a personality can have personality problems. As you know, there are dogs that are far more aggressive than other dogs and dogs that are far more docile. You can have sharp differences within the same litter. A friend of mine who raises St. Bernards had to put one down recently. He had it for nearly three years and it was just becoming more and more vicious. It got to the point where he was afraid of it himself, afraid to feed it, afraid to go near it. What was more interesting, from your viewpoint, however,” Fox added leaning over his desk, “is that this dog was beginning to influence the others.”
    “Like what we might call peer pressure?”
    “Exactly. But, as I was saying before, you, your wife, or your children would have had to notice something unusual in King, some deviant behavior. It can’t just happen.”
    “Why not? It often happens that way with people, doesn’t it? How many times have we heard about someone nobody expected to become violent doing violent and crazy things? There was that boy who shot people from a tower in Dallas and ...”
    “Yes, but afterward, we learn that they had brain tumors or they had been doing little things people ignored. . . they checked King for a tumor?”
    “Yes, the head was X-rayed.”
    “I don’t know. Right now, I don’t have any suggestions for you, and you saw what my