It’s been a while since I’ve reported to you on dog encounters in our neighborhood. Oh, it’s not because they haven’t been happening, (trust me, they have.) I think I’ve just gotten better at managing the situations.

The last three days however, have found us with not one, not two, not three, but four encounters with different dogs. Thankfully, the encounters have happened with Delilah, who has become amazing at looking to me for clues, and following my directions.

If I didn’t know better, and wasn’t walking when all this happened, I’d think I was in an episode of The Fast and Furious, because that’s how they seemed to come at us.

Doug and Ted’s Not-So-Excellent-Adventure

Encounter number one took place Saturday morning. Delilah was taking her long, leisurely stroll on her favorite route. We were approaching a house with two Goldens. At one point, I thought this house had an e-fence, but I’ve since come to think it either doesn’t work, they don’t collar the dogs, or they got rid of it. I suspect this because 1) there are two leads attached at the front porch, and 2) I’ve seen one of the dogs out of the yard on at least one occasion.

Naturally, I approach this house cautiously. We probably take this route, one to two times per week, but before Saturday I couldn’t tell you the last time I saw the dogs out. But they were out Saturday.

As we approached the driveway I saw one of the dogs “Teddy” coming towards us at a run. I began moving Delilah to the other side of the street in order to avoid this. It wouldn’t have mattered as Teddy came right out the driveway into the street. As he got close to Delilah I said, “Well, okay!” and I dropped my leash.

The owner meanwhile was calling her dog (that’s how I know his name. BTW, the other dog’s name (in case you were wondering,) is…Doug. Couldn’t be Bill and Ted, because then I could have said it was an excellent adventure, no it’s Teddy and Doug.)

After a quick sniff, Teddy turned around and ran back into the yard and up onto the porch. I seriously thought we were going to walk past the house without the woman saying a damn word, but as she entered her house, she threw a “Sorry about that,” over her shoulder at us.

It’s a Golden Retriever Kind of Day

The second encounter took place on Saturday afternoon. We had just started our walk and had walked about two houses up the hill, when I noticed a couple coming down the street. The woman had a small dog (on an adjustable leash no less), while the gentleman had (surprise!) a Golden Retriever.

We were on opposite sides of the street, but we were also approaching another neighbor’s home
and I knew their dog was outside.

I slowed down. I mean, we’ve gotten good at this, but juggling between a yard dog and a street dog? No thanks, besides I have a “Don’t tempt fate” policy.  So I sat Delilah in front of a neighbor’s driveway and tried to keep her focus on me, which soon became apparent was going to be very hard, as the Golden had suddenly gone nuts. So nuts, that the man had sat the dog and was trying to calm her. After what seemed like a year, but was probably only a minute, I decided he wasn’t going to win that war, so I moved Delilah into the neighbor’s yard, and behind a copse of trees. (FYI, if you have a reactive dog, or need to protect your dog from a reactive dog, I highly recommend checking with your neighbors to see if they mind you popping in if you need to avoid a situation. I have a number of ‘safe’ yards in our neighborhood for just this type of occasion.)

Meanwhile, the woman had turned around wondering what was going on. I heard her comment, “I’ve never seen her act like that before.”

Eventually the man coaxed, wrangled, or somehow manage to get the dog past our safe spot, all the while with the woman still commenting how she’d never seen her react like that.

Again I thought this would be one of those times when the owner said nothing, but the woman did call over an apology.

“No worries,” I called back.

Hey, I’ve been there, done that.

Bully on You

Round three…Sunday afternoon. We were towards the end of our walk and approaching a row of six houses, all of which have dogs. Some are e-fence, and others are fenced, while one, (I still have to tell you Dan’s story) has neither. I am always cautious around this area, always.

BECAUSE…Almost every dog in the e-fences in my neighborhood have broken their fences for one reason or another, and come at us. And every one of the e-dogs on this street have absolutely done it. Every. Single. One.

I usually cross the street because again, I try not to tempt fate.  Today though,one of the ‘fenced’ dogs came out of his yard with his owners. They were on the ‘safe’ side of the street, so Delilah and I held our course.

This dog was some kind of bully mix.  Not a pure Pit Bull, he was tall, and stocky. I knew immediately that this could be challenging, as I saw the owners falter for a split second, then the woman leaned over and spoke to the man. I pulled the leash in, so Delilah was only a couple of feet from me, and I pulled out a treat. Holding the treat in front of her, helps ensure she will stay focused on that, and not the other dog.

HOWEVER…if your dog is barking and lunging at us, guess what? My dog will respond.

So that’s what happened.

I evidently gave her the treat too soon, because she turned and made to give that guy a piece of her mind, but I quickly redirected her, and avoided an ugly scene. This time the woman was quick in her apologies. Just a weird little note, in the two encounters we had where women and men were involved, it was always the woman who was quick to offer the apology, never the men.

WTF is up with that? Step up to the plate, gentlemen.

Strap Your Balls On

Our fourth encounter was Monday (yesterday) morning.

It involved our neighbor up the street, I shall call him, Ken and his dog who I shall call (just for haha’s) Barbie. Ken and I chat on occasion. We first met when Sampson had his CCL surgery, Barbie had the same surgery just a few weeks after Sampson. Barbie recovered well from her surgery, Sampson did not.

During our numerous chats, Ken has shared that Barbie (a husky mix) is reactive to other dogs. She is great with people, but not dogs. More than once I’ve offered to work with Ken on her reactivity, but so far it’s been declined.

Ken’s method of handling Barbie’s reactivity is to avoid houses with dogs.

THIS can be very challenging, as there are so many homes with dogs in our neighborhood, but Ken has a little route planned out, and doesn’t mind not completing an entire loop around the neighborhood.

This tells me two things 1 (Ken does not in fact, have OCD, otherwise he’d NEED to make the loop, and 2) Ken is lazy.

If it’s a weekend morning, when I run into Ken, I will sometimes turn around, just until he gets past us, but on a workday, I don’t have that luxury, and Ken is forced to turn around, or stop and wait at a safe distance until we are past him.

Yesterday, as I turned the corner onto our street, I saw Ken walking down the hill. This is the point in the story where Ken usually turns dejectedly around, and moves away from us. But Ken did not do that yesterday.

No, yesterday, Ken strapped his big boys on, and decided he wasn’t turning around.

Way to start my Monday, Ken.

I shortened our leash, and brought Delilah in closer, grabbing a treat as I did so. From the corner of my eye, I saw Ken bring Barbie in. It also seemed like Ken was talking to Barbie because his lips were moving. Who knows, he may have been cussing the shit out of me, or trying to cast a spell but 1) I couldn’t hear because I was across the street and also talking to Delilah and 2) I could care less. As long as his dog doesn’t cross the street, we’re good.

Barbie was doing very well, until Delilah and I got abreast of them, and then Barbie lost her stuff.

Now Delilah is very treat focused, but she’s also wary of other dogs, especially those posturing at her, so she got a wee bit jumpy, but I managed to maintain my cool, and keep her from crossing the street and giving Barbie a piece of her Chocolate mind.

We’ve had a lot of dog encounters in our neighborhood, but four in forty-eight hours is a lot more than I bargained for.

Sometimes I just want to organize a neighborhood training session.