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Thursday, May 1, 2014

Dog days

We had a strange dog related day today.

It all started this morning when I took the corgis for a walk. The rain was threatening... again... and so I just wanted to go on a long enough walk to drain some of their energy, but not go too far that we'd be caught in a downpour, and that we'd be back in time for me to put out the trash!

We started out and after some marking, we turned down a street.  Across the street from us was a parent and her two kids standing at the curb. I presume waiting for the bus.  When the older one saw us walking, he ran into the street to pet the dogs. (WTF!) Thankfully the corgis did not see him and we were far enough along that he couldn't have caught us.  But seriously! Do children not know about NOT RUNNING INTO THE STREET?

That side street is not that busy, but at that hour there were people starting to leave for work. The parent didn't yell or scream for him to stop or anything like that.  He made it halfway into the street before she nonchalantly said for him to get out of the street.

I don't get it. I would not have been surprised if this kid also came running up and got into the dog's faces instead of asking if he could pet them. This is a large pet peeve of mine. It is foolhardy for anyone to assume all dogs are friendly and it's ok to come running up to them, tower over them and then expect them not to be scared of you. Especially if the dog is unfamiliar with you or is unwell or in pain. This is how people are bitten.

Please, please, please instruct the people in your life to ask before petting a strange dog.

After that, our walk was uneventful until we came up behind a lady heading to the bus stop.  We were walking a bit faster than her, but I wanted to see if I could get the corgis to behave and keep their distance even though they really wanted to play with her. They did quite well and we went almost a full block with a few feet between us until we got to the park and I needed the garbage bin.

We continued on through the park and started to head home. Then, I hear Merida bark once. I look up to see a dog run across the street and straight for us. This was the same dog that saw us the other day and he was clawing at the ground to come over and meet us. I was a little apprehensive on account of that and because I've had crummy experiences with that owner in the past and because his older dog snapped at our neighbor's dog. As a result, I go out of my way to avoid him.

Anyway, apparently they now have two dogs. The one that came running up to us is the new one and he's a puppy... albeit a large puppy. Possibly a Siberian Husky mix. The dog reaches us and the corgis are going crazy. I was hesitant and pulled back on the leash because the dog stiffened as my two were excitedly sniffing, but I eased up and let the dogs do their thing.

During this time, the owner came across the street with a leash and was able to get his dog under control. This encounter ended on a good note and I was glad a) there were no cars coming, b) we were able to distract the dog long enough that he didn't think to run off and have the owner have to go look for him, and c) my two, especially Gimli were so well behaved with the puppy.

Note, not the dog we met this morning

What does tomorrow have in store? We will see.

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