Looking after two small dogs is an easy job. At home they are well-behaved and fun little companions. Out on the street, it is a revelation of human behavior. We three were out walking and ahead on the sidewalk, about 50 feet were two dogs on leashes, held by a robust middle aged woman. The dogs were not large, and my dogs were curious. Most of the time, I avoid all interaction, and cross the street. I am thinking of doing that as I near the three who are in conversation with a fourth person at an outside table. My dogs are just nosing along when suddenly her dogs go into frantic antics of barking, growling and straining at the collar. She immediately becomes all huffy herself [imagine a bird puffing out it’s feathers] and says something to the effect of “Oh My, what are your dogs aggressive.” It was a remarkable comment, for I had noted her watching us approach. I heard her complimenting my two charges to her friend, but the minute her two became aggressive she flipped it around to make it look like my dogs had started it all. ‘What a way to go through life,’ I muttered, as one car length before reaching her, I moved to the street and walked away.
I also realize City dogs will never experience the ‘chasing of cars’. That ridiculous behavior dogs used to have when they were unleashed and would run out in the street to bark at the turning wheels of a passing car. They did it as if their very lives depended on it.