Do not get me wrong.
I like dogs, in fact they are my most favourite of all domestic pets.
After all we did as a family, and with young children, have two dogs over a total of 18 wondrous and enjoyable years and were enriched by the experience. Our two daughters and son grew up with the dogs in very close attendance and they co-existed very well with no dramas,and certainly no doubts in our minds as to any level of mutual misbehaviour or danger.
There were, granted, some moments of unwelcome tail whip from the big German Pointer, Toffy ,and whose bulky 6 stone frame was clumsily victorious every time against a toddler in a rush to find out who had rung the front door bell or upon a broadcasted announcement of the offer of chocolate-drop goodie treats.
Yes, we did weigh her using the method of i) human on scales unaccompanied by canine, ii) human on scales wrestling to hold onto canine iii) repeat of ii) a few times to get reasonable level of consistent reading, iv) try to work out differential in figures expressed in imperial terms from i) and ii), applying modesty ratio upon discovery of a heavier human weight than believable (even with all that dog walking and buggy pushing) to arrive at, funnily enough and as always, a figure of 6 stone.
That dog must have had an unusually dense skeletal frame or beefy ligaments within that svelte, lean and athletic exterior....or, no,was I perhaps...no, that is unthinkable....
The other dog, Elsie, taken on from the RSPCA Rescue Centre, after having been found abandoned as a puppy was one in a million. She had total empathy with us all and could be found with children asleep on her soft, hairy Chewbacca type coat or nuzzling up to us grown ups if she sensed that we had just had a bad day.
It was a wonderful combination of dogs and humans because we knew each other and respected the space, behaviour and requirements within such a modern, mixed species family.
With this rich inheritance I therefore felt bad today as, upon sight of a dog running loose on the footpath I had some instinct, deep set, to afford some protection to my groin area in case of an unwelcome attack.
There was actually a whole steady procession of those dog breeds which through no fault of their own have been thrust into the public perception as being dangerous, unpredictable and easily capable of inflicting damage to soft tissue and popular bodily extremities.
The fact that they were being exercised on a remote footpath did initially raise my awareness that this must be for a reason. A glance at the person or persons supposedly in charge but with attentions elsewhere by virtue of a head encased in sound or a half a bonce attached to a mobile phone did nothing to reduce my trepidation, in fact my feeling of self preservation only increased.
Of course, the dogs, every single one of them were otherwise engaged in pursuing an interesting scent, the faint promise of a trail, rolling in the remains of a dead animal in the long grass or searching out somewhere to relieve themselves. Their concentration on canine activities may even have rendered me invisible to them.
As I approached I tried to act in an affable and nonchalant manner towards the dog and politely indifferent to the owner. Both parties got a nervous smile and a nod of acknowledgement that I had seen them followed by the mutual action of passing each other as far apart as could be possible on a footpath only three feet wide.
I really had nothing to worry about from the calm, affectionate hounds whose upbringing and nurture by responsible and doting owners did not make them at all menacing although I expect that ,upon their return to their respective homes, a strange tale would be told about a fat man on a bike, observed riding erratically, one hand clutching his goolies and apparently trying to strike up an overly familiar conversation with a succession of pet dogs.
No comments:
Post a Comment