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Adventures in attempted dog walking
May. 19th, 2008 11:06 amThis morning--early this morning--I started barking from somewhere outside began to penetrate my slumber. Tom, of course, also noticed it. With the windows open, it was especially noticeable. To his credit, Tom did a pretty decent job quieting down when I asked him to. He did bark, and I did have to make multiple requests, but he did a pretty decent job of settling down.
The more I listened the barking, though, the more I thought, "I don't recognize those barks." They were coming from the back and they where too deep to be the little pugs that live in the townhome behind me. Someone pounded on my door, but by the time I disentangled myself from the bedsheets and got downstairs there was no one there. Eventually it was pointless to stay in bed any longer, so I got up and took Tom outside. Where I discovered the source of the barking.
There were two or three police cars in the area and a couple of officers looking cautiously at two pit bulls who were unrestrained and barking away. I got Tom back in the house fast--especially when one of the dogs caught sight of us. I went back out to talk to one of the officers who asked if they were mine or if I knew them (I didn't). I was asking if he could tell whether they friendly and he didn't really have a sense of it. I went back in, fed Tom, and then made the decision to drive to another location for our morning walk.
When I got home, animal control had arrived and apparently had just rounded them up, as they were loading them into the van. In some ways, I feel a little silly taking such an extreme precaution. I'm not one of those who believes that every pit bull is viscious. In fact, I'm confident that many, if not most, are good dogs. But I always hate to unrestrained dogs of any breed when we're out walking because I just don't know what they're going to be like. I get tense, which probably means that I send a lot of wrong cues out. And in a situation like the one this morning, Tom's going to be all barky and who knows what that will lead to.
So anyway, we took our morning walk in a new place. And the unknown dogs are no longer wandering free. All's well that ends well. For what it's worth, the dogs looked well cared for and seemed pretty docile when they were being led to the animal control van. And they didn't really seem to be acting in an aggressive manner--from what I could tell--when they were loose. I'm thinking they'd escaped from someone's yard. I certainly hope they weren't just let loose or abandoned. At any rate, it was a bit of an adreneline rush first thing in the morning.
The more I listened the barking, though, the more I thought, "I don't recognize those barks." They were coming from the back and they where too deep to be the little pugs that live in the townhome behind me. Someone pounded on my door, but by the time I disentangled myself from the bedsheets and got downstairs there was no one there. Eventually it was pointless to stay in bed any longer, so I got up and took Tom outside. Where I discovered the source of the barking.
There were two or three police cars in the area and a couple of officers looking cautiously at two pit bulls who were unrestrained and barking away. I got Tom back in the house fast--especially when one of the dogs caught sight of us. I went back out to talk to one of the officers who asked if they were mine or if I knew them (I didn't). I was asking if he could tell whether they friendly and he didn't really have a sense of it. I went back in, fed Tom, and then made the decision to drive to another location for our morning walk.
When I got home, animal control had arrived and apparently had just rounded them up, as they were loading them into the van. In some ways, I feel a little silly taking such an extreme precaution. I'm not one of those who believes that every pit bull is viscious. In fact, I'm confident that many, if not most, are good dogs. But I always hate to unrestrained dogs of any breed when we're out walking because I just don't know what they're going to be like. I get tense, which probably means that I send a lot of wrong cues out. And in a situation like the one this morning, Tom's going to be all barky and who knows what that will lead to.
So anyway, we took our morning walk in a new place. And the unknown dogs are no longer wandering free. All's well that ends well. For what it's worth, the dogs looked well cared for and seemed pretty docile when they were being led to the animal control van. And they didn't really seem to be acting in an aggressive manner--from what I could tell--when they were loose. I'm thinking they'd escaped from someone's yard. I certainly hope they weren't just let loose or abandoned. At any rate, it was a bit of an adreneline rush first thing in the morning.