What do Michael Jackson and my dog have in common?

I know that's a provocative headline, and I wrote it intentionally. But there's a reason.

A few years ago, I was watching my dog Lady do her pee dance. It's part of a dog's marking territory ritual, and Lady is a stylist. Most dogs do a few weak scratches; she's exceptional.

Sometimes Lady will do what I call her levitation pee dance. It's so violent that she actually has all four paws off the ground at a time, and you don't want to be "downwind" of her. You'll be in the line of fire from rocks, gravel, dirt and grass.

Recently, we were at the dog park, and she was about to perform a pee dance. This little terrier was behind her, I guess to sniff her butt, and she did one of her powerful pee dances in which two legs work at a time and she "backs up." The little dog took grass and dirt in the face as Lady moonwalked.

It brought laughs from the terrier's owners, and Lady strutted away proudly. The terrier followed her, and, for a moment, I thought of Michael Jackson.