Dog Walking Encounters...

It was another sunny, warm day today. It was, in fact, quite beautiful outside. I think spring is definitely giving way to summer, slowly but surely.

The pups and I decided to take advantage of the weather and take a walk. Generally, this is actually quite an ordeal as they absolutely despise their harnesses. Sookie runs away the minute I pull them out and I have to go outside and wait until she gets distracted by a bird, squirrel, rabbit or bug before I scoop her up and take her inside where I put on her harness with much whimpering involved.

Then, of course, I have to carry her outside because she has a fear of going through the door. I think I mentioned that I accidentally shut her tail in the door once but, in my defense, she was afraid of the door before then. Dogs have weird quirks. I used to watch Gilmore Girls- still one of my all-time favourite TV shows. Lorelei Gilmore (namesake of my Rory) had a dog named Paul Anka which was the quirkiest dog ever. He was afraid of peas and didn't like to go down steps. I used to think it was quite silly and cute but not at all realistic until I got Sookie. Sookie doesn't like to take treats from me with her teeth. She gums them and promptly drops them on the ground and then wraps her paws around them, delicately chewing away. She's afraid of her harness and the front door. She thinks when I invite her to sit up on the sofa with Rory and I that I'm going to...do something bad and she runs away. Sookie, in short, is a little quirky. And, of course, I love her dearly.

We did eventually make it outside for our walk where we managed to get about ten feet when we ran into the non-Dog-Whisperer next-door-neighbours. They're a very nice couple but very chatty. We haven't seen them in a while and so we stopped to say hi. Then they insisted on getting two of their three dogs- their corgi and their King Charles cavalier spaniel- and bringing them outside on a leash to meet the girls. This was cute at first except Rory got a little excited and started to chomp on Lance's ears. Lance is the spaniel. It's weird for me to call a spaniel lance because I have a friend named Lance and he looks nothing like a spaniel.

Lance became annoyed with Rory, naturally. He turned his back and that was that. Then the corgi came out and I can never remember his name but it's something like Timmy. Rory decided to try to bite his nose. Rory is very playful and likes to jump on things. This list of things she likes to jump on includes: the sofa, worms, birds, bumblebees, Sookie, Sookie's tail, Sookie's ears, my feet, my shoes, sticks, rocks, other dogs, other dogs' noses, other dogs' ears...you get the picture. She's a jumper.

The corgi was not impressed. He barked. Then Sookie had to bark. Sookie has a bark that could seriously break glass. It's very high-pitched. It sometimes hurts my ears. The sound shocked the dog-whose-name-is-something-like-Timmy and he backed away which prompted Rory, naturally, to try to jump on his head. To make matters worse, Son-of-Dog-Whisperer walked by with a large, orange, plastic toy pistol. He pointed it at the dogs. The corgi went nuts. Then Lance went nuts. Then Rory got excited and tried to ride on Lance's back. Lance stomped away. The corgi licked Sookie who was lying down, peacefully observing the mini-chaos. She got up and walked away.

I think my neighbours were a little sorry they'd decided to bring out their dogs. I tried to control the girls but, well, they're puppies and they like other dogs. Actually, let me correct that, they seem to like other dogs who do not yap continuously and annoy the crap out of them by standing at the fence and barking every time they move like, say, the Dog Whisperer's beasts. Of course, I may be projecting a little bit there.

Anyways, we managed to leave the neighbours with a friendly 'have a great evening' and we continued on our way. Then two bunnies happened to run across the road, chasing each other. Rory decided she had to have a bunny. Fortunately, she was on a leash and I have a pretty firm grip. Sookie laid down because that's what dogs do when they see bunnies...right? Ok, I admit...Sookie is a bit strange.

I got Rory to calm down and we continued along without incident until we go to Possibly-Joe the plumber's house. He was on his room blowing leaves off it. I'm not sure why his roof has so many leaves on it, to be honest. He doesn't have many trees around him- not ones that are tall enough to drop leaves on a house. It was a bit odd, to tell you the truth. He threw us a friendly wave but his blowing-thingy alarmed the puppies who get a bit skittish around electrical-noise-making-things. Sookie hides when I hoover the floor. Rory usually runs away although she did bravely try to bite the hoover once. Then she ran away.

We managed to get by Joe and his leaf blower thing although the girls had tangled up their leashes around my legs. This was a complicated untangling affair because I was wearing a skirt and I had to lift my legs quite high. I hope no one saw my underwear.

After Joe's place is the most precarious part of our walk...Larry the Potential Serial Killer's house. I didn't see Larry as we started to pass by. I heaved a sigh of relief.

Silly Captain Monkeypants! He was in his back yard! With visitors! He came to shout "hi" over his gate but Joe's blower was noisy and he couldn't hear my "hi" response.

So, he came running out to say hi to 'the fellas'. His guests were left behind. He greeted me with a "I haven't seen you since the last time I saw you!". Uh, yes...that is a very true statement. He seemed to abandon his guests to his back garden. Eventually, though they came out and introduced themselves as Robin and Mona.

I have absolutely no idea who Robin and Mona actually were but they seemed quite nice. They left quite quickly to pick up someone else. I was a little alarmed because Mona, the driver, had started backing up from Larry's driveway before Robin had got in and Robin had to sort of run to hop in the car. Also, since the puppies, Larry and I were standing right behind the car, it was doubly alarming. I pulled the girls to safely and Mona and Robin peeled out.

Ok, so they didn't peel out but they left in a hurry. Larry wanted to show me his "to-made-as" (translation: tomatoes). I declined. I think one of my issues with Larry is that he's an 'up close and personal' chatter. He really has no concept of "This is my space, this is your space." So, talking to him involves casually backing away. Tonight, I tried that and my flip-flops and the leashes got a wee bit tangled but, fortunately, it didn't involve any accidental underwear showing moments.

I excused us from Larry by saying that the puppies were hot and needed water which, for the record, was not a fib. It was just a very convenient reason to escape. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that Larry seemed quite disappointed. I think Larry is quite lonely. I feel sorry for him but I'm not sure I want to be that friendly to Larry, if you know what I mean.

The girls and I began our final stretch towards home. Once we got to our front garden, Sookie promptly laid down, refusing to budge. This is my cue to pick her up and carry her back through the front door. All in all, the ten minute walk took about 40 minutes tonight. Fortunately, I had time to spare and didn't have anything else planned.

As I said in my last blog, living in a neighbourhood is fun. It turns a simple walk into an adventure of sorts because you never know who you're going to meet.

Well, except for Larry. We always meet Larry.

Sigh.

Happy Wednesday!