With Labor day fast approaching, we pack away our summer gear and say goodbye to our white shoes. What do dogs do with their shoes? Wait -- do they even have shoes? Jimmy takes us through a very reasonable, logical explanation to the age old dogs-wearing-shoes mystery.

I'm used to the chief giving me screwball assignments. This last one, though, wasn't the curve that I was expecting. It was a change-up that left me swinging away. She said, "Jimmy, I'm tired of all your articles being filled with baseball references. Take this story, and I better not see any mention of baseball!" When I looked at the topic, I knew straightaway that I wasn't going to be talking baseball. "I'm on it, chief," I shouted, as I bolted out the door. The last thing I heard as I headed for the elevator was her voice: "Stop calling me chief!"

On the elevator ride down, I looked at the story lead and tried to make some sense of it. The words didn't change no matter how many times I read it. Why do dogs not wear white shoes? The whole topic flabbered my gasted. "What do you mean white shoes? When do dogs ever wear shoes? If they could and would wear shoes, how would they tie the laces?"

The thoughts whirled around my brain like a twister looking for a trailer park. Right now, they were just stirring up dust but I was sure that once they reached ground zero, things were going to fly.

The first thing I needed to do was find out if dogs ever did wear shoes and if so, when. So I headed for home to my trusty computer. It was time for a little internet research. I wasn't going to wear out my shoes finding out what dogs did with theirs.

If you have ever done an internet search before, you know that the biggest task is narrowing things down. Search engines today will find you 1.5 million entries in .17 seconds. You then spend the next week finding out what really applies to what you want. That wasn't the case this time. I started out with something easy. I just searched images with the keywords, "dogs wearing shoes". It showed 47 results. Only five of them were actually of dogs wearing shoes.

When I saw the pictures, things started to make sense. One showed a picture of a dog out running with his human. The artificial track looked like it could do damage to a dogs paws so wearing shoes made sense. Another two were of the same police dog working in the concrete canyons of a major city. Okay; horses wear horseshoes on city streets -- it makes sense for a dog to protect its paws, as well. The last picture was of a husky, part of a sled team up in Alaska. Hey, I'm not gonna run around on the ice and snow in my bare feet!

The last piece fell into place. I now knew that there are times that a dog can and will wear shoes. It even makes sense, unlike the woman-thing about wearing platform flip-flops. C'mon, those things are just accidents waiting to happen. It's not like a guy isn't going to know that you aren't that tall. What's next, strapping on a coffee can to each foot like we did as kids? I mean, do women really think that guys like the Herman Munster look?

Sorry about that -- now where was I? Oh yes, it was now obvious that dogs do wear shoes at times. Now it was time to get to the real meat of this story. Why don't dogs wear white shoes? That question still burned bright. You see, I wasn't able to find any example of a dog wearing white shoes. I was going to need to look somewhere else for my answers.

Work done by D. Caroline Coile, PhD and others has shown that dogs do indeed see color and not just black and white. While their color range is mostly in the blues, grays and yellows, it does show that dogs are able to discriminate and could choose white for their shoes. What then, could cause dogs to consistently choose a color other than white for those times when they wear shoes? For the answer to this question, I would need to go to an expert.

I chose to visit with an old friend of mine, Ms. Brandy. She is a great old girl who is loved by all. She always has a smile and a word for those she sees. She is on up in years but her mind is still sharp, even though arthritis makes it hard for her to get up or down. Her life story is interesting in and of itself. She suffered years of abuse when she was young. She had overcome the pain and hatred to be filled with love, which she was always willing to share. From her years of wisdom and experience, I was sure to get the answers I needed. Here is an excerpt of my interview with her.

Jimmy: I guess the first thing that I'd like to know about firsthand is whether it is true that dogs can see in color.

Ms. Brandy: Of course they can. I've been able to see colors all my life. If you had ever asked, I would have told you. (woof)

Jimmy: Sometimes it's just knowing the right question to ask. Maybe you can tell me why you have never worn shoes.

Ms. Brandy: I never needed to wear them. We always had plenty of grass to walk upon. In case you never noticed, we're in Texas and it doesn't get cold enough to wear shoes. There was that one time it snowed but I was young then and playing around was fun. My, how my paws tingled after running around in all that snow. Now, if I were belly high in the snow all the time it would make sense to wear shoes. I've never understood you humans and your shoes… shoes for this and shoes for that. You spend all your time wrapping up your feet. Those women are the worst; they put on shoes that they can barely stand in much less walk.

Jimmy: If you can see colors, then why don't you ever wear white shoes? I've seen dogs with white sweaters, why no white shoes?

Ms. Brandy: (bark) There is no mystery here. It's all those crazy rules you humans have. We just can't figure out if you can't wear white shoes before or after Labor Day.

Jimmy: Fashion is such a bitch. Oops -- sorry about that, Ms. Brandy.

Ms. Brandy:  You are one crazy human.