Animal Insting

Mom totally has the wrong idea about going for a walk with dogs. She thinks the purpose of a walk should be to pee, poop, and get exercise. But we dogs know that the real reason to go for a walk is to check out the neighborhood and see what has changed in the last 24 hours. Also we hope to have an Adventure while we are out walking.

There are Good Adventures and there are Bad Adventures. The good ones are more pleasant than the bad ones, so I like them better. Yesterday was TRASH DAY, for example. On TRASH DAY there is always a chance that you will have a Good Adventure because sometimes yummy stuff falls out of people's trash, such as chicken bones or pizza or bread crusts or napkins soaked in grease.

But yesterday we started out with a Bad Adventure because the BigNoisyScaryTrashTruck came down our block just when we were walking there. I am very afraid of the BigNoisyScaryTrashTruck because I am afraid it will kill me. And maybe it will kill Mom and Gabe, too! So whenever the BigNoisyScaryTrashTruck comes near, I flatten myself down to the ground and become as small as possible, hoping it won't notice me. This is a technique I have used with success on several occasions, and I'm happy to say it worked again yesterday! I recommend the use of this technique if you ever need it. It also works for fire trucks and school buses. I have not applied for a patent on it, so you can use it totally free of charge!

Well, after our Bad Adventure with the BigNoisyScaryTrashTruck, we didn't really have many other Adventures, although we did find a few yummy cicadas. Also Gabe found part of a dead rat, which he ate without sharing a bit of it with me. But that is typical behavior for him.

Anyway, here's an example of a Good Adventure we had on Tuesday, the day after my surgery. Gabe and Mom and I were just walking down the street, and we saw a REAL LIVE SOLDIER! Mom said she has never seen a soldier walking around in our neighborhood, so it was an Adventure for her, too! The reason we knew he was a soldier was because he was wearing camouflage all the way from his neck down to his boots. But even though he was camouflaged, we were still able to see him. And even if we couldn't have seen him, we dogs would still have been able to smell him and tell that he was there.

The soldier had on a black beret. A beret is a type of funny hat that the French invented. Green berets are more famous than black berets because there was a whole movie made about green berets. I did some research, though, and I learned that anybody in the U.S. Army can wear a black beret. So we think this soldier was in the Army. Mom said maybe he escaped from Iraq or Afghanistan, and that's why he was walking down the street in our neighborhood, but we don't know for sure what he was doing there.

Here's another example of a Good Adventure that happened to us last week. When Mom and Gabe and I were walking, we saw a stray dog coming toward us. He was what Mom calls a "generic black-and-tan dog." He didn't look vicious or anything. He just looked like he was having an excellent time checking things out in the neighborhood. There was a man in a silver car who was following this dog around. Mom asked the man if it was his dog, and he said yes. He said it was hard to catch his dog when he got loose.

So Mom let this dog come over by us and she tried to get ahold of his collar, but just when she tried to do that, Gabe snarked at the dog -- which is what he always does with dogs he doesn't know -- and scared him away. So we didn't manage to help the man in the car catch his dog.

Then later on, when Mom took Mel and Barry for a walk, they saw this same dog, still running around, sniffing everything. I know this part of the story because Barry told it to me after their walk. So anyway, there was this dog, but the man with the silver car was not following him. Instead, there was a man with a cell phone, and he was walking around, watching the dog. So Mom let the dog come up to them because she knew that Mel and Barry are usually nice with stray dogs, and sure enough, they were very nice. And this time Mom got ahold of the dog's collar. Then the man with the cell phone came, and he said it was his neighbor's dog. And he took the dog and then the man with the silver car came and put the dog in his car.

So this was a very big Good Adventure that happened to all four of us dogs on the same day. And the dog that got loose went back home with his dad, which probably did not make him very happy, but it was lots, lots better than getting hit by a car!