Whippet Love
Yesterday I took Joey out to pee, and one of my neighbors was walking her dog. Her dog looks like some kind of so-called "designer dog" with, I'm sorry to say, some poodle genes. I'm pretty sure it's a very young dog, and it's pretty much insane. Instead of teaching the dog leash manners, the woman has solved the pulling problem by using a flexi-lead. (I hate those things, although I do have one and use it in situations when I would like to let Faith blow off some steam but cannot let her off-leash.) Anyway, so the neighbor was walking calmly along with this crazed, underexercised dog going in all directions at once. There's this little path right next to my house, so they were passing right by Joey and me. If the dog on the other end of my leash had been Faith, I probably would have taken her around the other side of the house out of sight of the dog, because Faith reacts to moronic dogs by turning into a moron herself. Maybe she doesn't want them to feel left out. Since I had Joey, I stayed where I was because I wanted to see how he would react.
He sits down by my foot and, with a slightly disdainful expression on his face, watches with interest. Not a peep out of him. No straining on the leash, no furious wagging of the tail, no canine exclamations of "Oh, my God, you look like SO MUCH FUN! We're kindred spirits! Let's ditch these owners and PLAY!" When the poodle mix dragged its owner up into my backyard, then Joey had a little something to say, but who can blame him? It's not fair. I work with Faith all the time to teach her that other dogs do not mean automatic party (and she is so much better about it than she used to be), but Joey seems to just have been born with it.
He sits down by my foot and, with a slightly disdainful expression on his face, watches with interest. Not a peep out of him. No straining on the leash, no furious wagging of the tail, no canine exclamations of "Oh, my God, you look like SO MUCH FUN! We're kindred spirits! Let's ditch these owners and PLAY!" When the poodle mix dragged its owner up into my backyard, then Joey had a little something to say, but who can blame him? It's not fair. I work with Faith all the time to teach her that other dogs do not mean automatic party (and she is so much better about it than she used to be), but Joey seems to just have been born with it.