doglets | Entries tagged with other dogs

And the rest of the world hasn’t been good to Seren. I have to remind myself that for all the hundreds of people we pass without incident, the anti-dog ones are the minority. But Seren is only absorbing the bad times. She has a wilful personality and can be demanding, but a lot of her behaviour is now coming from fear and a series of bad incidents

On a walk, a man came rushing out of his house, one of those front doors that go directly onto the pavement. He narrowly missed us, started yelling in my face and glaring at Seren, who fear-barked back at him. The more he got in my face about my fkin rottweiler, the more Seren reacted.

In the park, an off-lead bouncy staffy ran up gleefully but unexpectedly behind her, sniffed and pawed her back, totally spooking her out. Seren turned and growled. The owner was yelling over “it’s ok he’s friendly, he’s only playing” The first rule of dog-park life is that both sides have to agree on-lead and at distance to the “only playing”. It’s not fair or helpful to let an off lead dog run, however cheerfully, at a dog who has no escape. Seren wet herself, then tried again to defend herself, so this was a clumsy struggle of me clinging desperately to her lead and trying to politely keep the other dog away. The owner offered to put her dog back in the car because he wasn’t giving up trying to get Seren to play and apparently wasn’t good on a lead....

But the damage was done, Seren was now edgy and feared. I half dragged her back to our car with the staffy still trotting behind us. He was a friendly, happy soul and in another dimension I might have happily let Seren play with him.

Seren’s relationship with other dogs and people is tense. Walks, now, are us playing the Pink Panther, tip toeing along, hiding behind lamp posts and diving up alleys. This isn't good for either of us.

Current Mood: frustrated

A young Lolly visited. Labrador / Collie Cross, cute wiggly playful thing called Dotty. Kato immediately sulked and loudly barked at the Whore Dog Intruder. This is Princess Kato Zone and other dogs must not be cuter or have any attention.

Dotty did her play dead trick and then wrestled a tennis ball.

“Amazing” swooned Frodi having a quick groom with his back paw.

“Pathetic” snarked Kato and continued woofing her displeasure at Dotty.

Kato was evicted into the garden. Frodi invited Dotty to see his etchings, one of his earlier works on the living room door called Separation Anxiety.

Kato was bouncing up and down shouting Flea Ridden Slag Bitch and He Touches Sheep through the window.

Kato was off-lead until I spotted an off-lead Staffordshire Terrorist. The Staffy seemed fully engaged trying to bury his own head.

Dog Law is that both owners put their dogs on lead until diplomacy with full peace treaty has been established. Not shouting “Don’t worry he’s only playing” as the recipient of the “only playing” may not interpret it as such and instigate defensive manoeuvres. Global Wars have kicked off for lesser misunderstandings
Staffy owner gave me the dog owners secret nod – and called Drac. I called Kato. Drac ignored his owner. I don’t expect Kato to come on the first call, stepped backwards and nearly fell over her.
“You rang” said Kato wiping her paws
Drac was now running rings around his owner. I however, walked tall and proud with my perfectly trained obedient dog. Kato, however, seemed to have gone into a rock solid Sit Stay which ruined the effect.

“What?” I looked down at her “Oh, you want praise, sorry, who’s a good girl then, clever baby puppy wuppy coming back to mummikins so quick, she’s such a good girly wirly”
I gave Kato a Big Head Ruffle, a Chest Rub and a Sides Wobble.
“Jesus Canine Christ” muttered Kato screwing up her eyes as I went in for another Sides Wobble

Our vets is a specialist for bulldogs. The waiting room sometimes sounds like a Steam Rally event with all the bullies chuffing away.

“Sit” said an owner to his portly looking bully who looked like he needed ironing or at least a few minutes in a trouser press “Sit!”

“How would you even know?” said Kato staring at the bull dogs squat bowed Georgian table legs “Can’t even tell which end is the head and which end is...”

“Don’t finish that sentence” I said

Looking at the rolls of bulldog draped over his creaky frame, Kato has a point, his front end and back end were very similar.

The bulldog snorted and got into something resembling a “sit” but it was more of a “splaaaat” with pools of dogness rippling around him. He looked like he’d partially melted.

The door opened and in came man in a wheelchair with his assistance Rottweiler. Kato actually smiled. Last time she met Assistance Rotty, she found him a calm, soothing presence.

To our surprise Rotty stared down a pug and gave a terse “Fuck you” in the face of a white polar bear dog. This it seemed, was son of assistance rotty, still in training, just hitting adolescence and not always getting his salutations correct.

“MILF!” barked the rotty when he spotted Kato. Kato looked aghast and intently read the small print on posh medical dog food.

“Oy, sexy lady, bet you’re up for it” said the juvenile rotty then turned to the portly bulldog “Do one squash face, I saw her first”

“I think he’s trying to get your attention” I said to Kato

“Lamb bone meal” read Kato “0.15% fructooligosaccharides”

“I’ve got some bone meal here for you hot paws” grunted the rotty straining at his leash

Our vet appeared, Kato shot in the examination room.

It was a positive vet visit, just a re-prescription and a marvel that it’s almost one year since Kato was diagnosed with mast cell cancer. She's mostly very well with just the odd tummy upset. She rarely needs her pain killers.

We pass a house that is probably best described with the euphemism “social housing”. The inhabitants are often stood outside with cans of Extra Strength and a couple of dogs. When I hesitate to pass with Kato, the people immediately command their dogs to “Fucking Get In Let the Lady pass”. The dogs are very obedient, bouncy cheerful and look a lot healthier than their owners.

One of the men was sat under a tree. “There you are Lady” he said as if he had been waiting for me. He put his cans in each pocket as if holstering his guns and came over. My immediate thought was that I have no spare change / cigarettes, just 4 extra strong poo-bags and my phone in case Kato leg gives out and I have to phone hippy.

Man explained he has lost Jake, his black Border Collie missing for two days.

“You know him” he said to Kato “Barks like a right cunt, he's mint though, proper mint”

Jake is micro-chipped but man discovered that the chips only work if the dog is handed in somewhere that scans them.

“Vets do it” he said

“Or police station” I said

“Fucks sake, hope he hasn’t got arrested” said the man “Hate being arrested”

He asked could I keep a look out for Jake on my walk. Jake would go to anyone and was "really fucking friendly, too fucking friendly" but had never run off for this long before.

He said he had been waiting for me but hadn’t seen me for ages. I pointed at Kato and said she had been ill. Kato throughout this exchange was calm and relaxed. Usually a stranger paying attention to us would have her grumbling.
“Beautiful dog yours” he said filling up with tears “We know when you go past our Jake always barks at her, barks at every fucker, twat dog he is”

His lip began to quiver. He got one of his cans out of his pocket, graciously offered me first swig which I politely declined.

The man smiled sadly at me and said if I saw Jake to just come round the house and bang on the window, anytime, just keep banging on it “Try not to put it through” he said in a tone that suggested the window was often put through but if I did put it through it would just be mildly inconvenient “Pisses the landlord right off”

“I could knock the door”

“No bastard answers the door” he said

Kato and I continued on our way.

“You were well behaved then Kato, well done!” I said “Such a good girl”

“Lady” said Kato and shook her ears as if they were curls “He said Lady”

“Think he meant me” I said

“Oh, bit of a comedian then” said Kato

I thought about the man’s accent. I could hear the years of drinking in his voice, some words exaggerated slowly and some words left to drift but he sounded well spoken. I wondered who he was and how he got to be a man sat under a tree drinking Skol Super at 5pm weeping for his lost dog.

While Kato had a poo, I spotted something black on the grass in the distance. I really hoped it was Jake but it turned out to be a bin bag

“We’ve got a spare Border Collie he could have” said Kato

We often encounter a man walking very briskly with two border collies in front of him on fairly long leads. Kato will bark and pull a bit if she sees them. Usually I put Kato into a sit, stand in her eye-line and let them pass. I’ve always felt a bit grumpy, that it’s us who have to accommodate as Speed Collies whoosh by. But on nearly colliding one day, he managed to give me an apologetic look and said “Cheers” It finally occurred to me itwasn't that he won't stop but he can't without the Speed Collies getting in tangle.

Kato and I were trotting along when the Speed Collies appeared. We were head on, eye contact locked on. With houses one side, a busy road on the other, one team had to either go into a split second reverse or we were crashing. We were now in the Canine Hadron Collider on course for impact. There was no way we could pass on the pavement without coming within spitting distance.

May Day. May Day. This is Not a Drill.

Meep Meep, said the collies, followed by Meep Meep Ouch, as their Controller deftly handbrake- turned 90 degrees between two parked cars. I put Kato into 5^th and accelerated, slight jolt as Kato took awhile to change gear from amble to sprint. Checking the rear view, Speed Collies were whooshing away warp factor ten.

“Didn’t even indicate” grumbled Kato who was struggling to keep up as she tried to work out how to do a wanker sign with her paw “Just pulled right out in front of us...they think they own the pavement!"