When I began writing this column several years ago, a friend who writes similar stuff for a publication in another state, advised me to write a column or two ahead-just in case I break a leg, get kicked by a horse or simply cannot think of anything to write about.

His suggestion was to write a column or two for inventory, on some general, timeless topic so the editor could file it away against the time I came up dry. This appears to be one of those times.

I suppose every columnist suffers a writing block at some time or other (like this week) when he or she cannot think of a blessed thing to write about. When this happens to some writers, they drag out the family dog (whether the family has a dog or not) and prattle on and on about the cute things the mutt does. Well, not me. I think it's downright silly to write a column about a dog just because you can't come up with anything else.

Oh, I have a dog, and could write a column-maybe three or four-about him, if I wanted to stoop to that. He's part beagle and all appetite, and answers to the sound of an electric can opener. He's actually fairly intelligent, my dog is, except for his habit of forgetting why car wheels were invented.

My dog has this way of cocking his head to one side and lifting his ears to half-mast when I talk to him, as if he understood every word I say. He's a terrific watch dog. Some nights he barks and barks at suspect sounds that only a dog's ears can hear. At least he barks half the night when I can't hear anything in the south half of the county.

Sure, he's cute and friendly, but is that any reason to bore readers to distraction with an account of what my dog does? Of course it isn't and I don't intend to do it.

However, if I did write about my dog, I could tell you about how he tangled with a skunk awhile back, and how we had to scrub him with vinegar and tomato juice before we could stand to have him in the yard. Or, I could describe my dog's tendency to tree every feral cat in the neighborhood.

But I'm not going to do that. You already know about dogs and car wheels and polecats, right? You wouldn't be very interested in reading yet another column about still another dog, right?

And that's why I always resist the urge to write about my dog, even when I'm up against a deadline.