I’m so sad to have to write this because it highlights the bad manners of some people. Mom and I had a bad run in last night and here’s the story:
It was around midnight. Mom had stayed up with a book so she was just taking me out for my bed time walk. We both were tired. I’ve been having trouble with my knee and right then I was hurting enough that I suggested to Mom that we took the elevator downstairs. This is a big sign as I really don’t like to take the elevator downstairs. All the waiting.
Mom picked our route very carefully because she knew I wasn’t feeling good. I get a little bit more defensive about certain dogs being around when I’m sore. I don’t want to risk meeting an unfriendly dog when I’m feeling vulnerable. Usually I bark at them to keep away. Mom’s working at me so that I don’t bark at them if they are away. Dogs I know are okay to be around but I’ll ignore them a bit more if they’re being too hyper.
Just as our walk was ending, we ran into a strange guy. Mom and I waited far enough back so that he would have room to walk past us (it was a small trail because some people don’t know how to shovel their sidewalks). As he was walking towards us, he stared at me. I’m not a big fan of men, especially strangers after dark who act weird. The staring was too much! I barked. And what does he do? He lowers his head a bit and keeps staring. I felt so uncomfortable about this that I didn’t want him to come any closer to Mom and me. Then as he approached he leaned over me and went to put his hand on my head. He’s so lucky that it was with me, who was barking because I was nervous and wanted space, and not somebody who was barking because they were actually aggressive. Mom stepped between me and him and tried to get me to calm a bit as we backed up. But this guy kept approaching. Mom was telling him in human words and I was barking at him that we didn’t want him near us, that he was making us nervous. And still he kept coming. Usually Mom would turn us around and walk the other way so we can have some space but she didn’t want to turn her back on this guy. My barking eventually woke up the neighbours and them opening their door to see what was going is what seemed to diffuse the situation. Finally the guy moved on. After that, we were okay but Mom had trouble getting to sleep. She was pretty upset.
I think we both handled the situation like the rock stars that we were. I barked without escalating or being truly threatening and Mom stayed nice and calm through the whole thing.
Mom penned a nice note to the neighbours to apologize for me barking so late at night. She described what happened and thanked them for opening the door to see what was going on. Hopefully they forgive me. How could they not? I’m fluffy and cute, even if I do need to be brushed.
Humans and dogs alike need to mind their manners so everybody can have good walks.
Paige the Wonder Dog
