It’s been a while since I shared a dog encounter story.  Ya’ll know where I live, it’s not like they haven’t been happening, believe me, they have. It’s just sometimes I have to ‘percolate’ them for a bit. 🙂

There’s a woman who lives on the street behind my house. She has a mini Schnauzer, “Bumper.” This dog barks like crazy when we pass the house, and when we pass her on a walk, she’s at the end of her leash, dragging her owner, and making all kinds of noises.

They live across the street from a house with two dogs in an e-fence and these dogs bark and run the yard, every time we pass. Every. Time.  One day this woman complimented me on Delilah, because the two fools were barking like crazy, and Delilah sailed by like nothing was happening. During that conversation, the woman told me she had chosen her dog because it was a ‘guard dog,’ and would warn her if someone was around. I can attest to the fact the dog barks, whether it’s on a lead outside, or sitting in the window. I can also verify, that the woman never checks to see what the dog is barking at. Not sure what the purpose of getting a dog that barks is, if you are not, in fact, going to check on that barking dog….but I digress.

Last week, Delilah and I were taking our afternoon walk, when I saw the woman coming out of her yard with her dog.

I immediately stopped, so I could determine which way she was headed. If she had gone the way we were heading, I would have hung back and let her get ahead of me, then continued on our way. But, instead, she came out of the yard and headed straight towards us, so I turned around and popped into a side street.

As she passed the entrance to the street, she thought it would be a good opportunity to talk to me. I kept Delilah at a safe distance, while Bumper huffed, and puffed, and pulled on the leash, and the woman spoke about the storm we’d just had, and it looks like one of her Arborvitae took a hit, and the first thing she did after getting power back on was make a cup of coffee, and her dog just wanted to meet my dog, and on and on and on.

Finally, she went on her way.  I knew we were going to end up meeting again, and now my priority became, getting us to a ‘safe’ house, while we waited for them to pass.

Lucky for us, we made it our neighbor’s house, and Delilah and I popped into their driveway to wait for Bumper and his mom to pass.

Except they didn’t.

No, no, Bumper’s mom decided (once again) that she’d stop and chat with me. Mind, Delilah is being SO good throughout both encounters. While Bumper, is still on the end of her leash, only this time, she’s dragging her mom closer and closer to us.

Then the mom says, “Can they meet?”

My response was strong and firm, “No.”

Then I went on to explain that sometimes Delilah is snarky, especially on leash. (Side not, why? Why do I feel like I have to explain to someone why my dog can’t meet theirs? Why?)

Now, if someone told me no, I’d be like, “Okay. See ya,” and I’d be on  my way.

But not this woman, no she kept right on chatting, and then, when she finally started walking away from us, she saw a HUGE snowman the kids next door had made, and had to shout back at me to see if I had seen it, and to ooh and ahh over it.

Chatty Cathy.

I wanted a diaper. Then I wanted to poop it.

How do you handle such encounters?