You might think that these quiet, tree-lined suburban streets would be calm and uneventful for more urban dog walkers like ourselves, but you would be wrong. The curving sidewalks that pass by neatly mowed lawns and cookie-cutter houses are full of hazards and distractions.
Bunnies and squirrels of course, but we have also encountered a mother deer and her still-spotted twin fawns. In addition, the fences conceal dogs who run along and bark ferociously, triggering an equal reaction in Heidi’s folks’ dog, Briggs, every time.
This morning an off-leash dog bounded out of his garage and straight at me and Heidi and Lucy, his owner bellowing to no avail for him to return. A big pittie, he didn’t seem aggressive, but we couldn’t really tell in the moment. Heidi and I shouted “No!” And Lucy danced in a circle on her leash as he neared us, and then circled back to his owner. No harm done, but our hearts were pounding as we continued on.
By far the most perilous jeopardy we encountered was the stray tennis ball on someone’s lawn; Lucy spotted it first and nearly dragged me down straining to retrieve it. A few houses down, I saw another one, but fortunately? I was ready, and Lucy missed it, and so our walk continued on without further happenstance.
No comments:
Post a Comment