#2479 three things about walking the dog in the neighborhood

 

It's been awhile since I wrote a Three Things post. All of these things came to me this afternoon while I was walking Mac through the neighborhood. Even though we walk through our streets twice a day on most days, Mac always seems to find it interesting and there are always new smells. These three things, though, are consistent.

1. She puts it in her mouth. Mac is a dog who likes to pick stuff up and carry it around. It might be a stick (my preference), but it also might be a leaf, or any random piece of garbage that is in the gutter. Not that I live in a dirty neighborhood, but you'd be surprised what a dog can find to put in her mouth. She is crazy for cup lids and if there's a straw in the lid, even better. She's plenty fine with a soda cup and also adores a good cup from Starbucks. Can't find a cup? There's probably a random piece of paper, a wadded up napkin, an empty chip bag, or a candy wrapper to be found. The mother lode of street fare is a plastic water bottle. The crunchy sound seems to be very satisfying and the bottles fit in her mouth easily. Most of the time Mac will pick up the item and carry it for a few houses then drop it for something else or to get a good sniff at whatever she's sniffing. I always wonder if the neighbors see a water bottle on their lawn and think, "Oh that black dog left this on our lawn."

2. Dogs and cats. I don't know many of the people in our neighborhood, but I do know where all the dogs and most of the cats live. Sometimes I even know the dog's name, but the not the human it lives with. The cats are a little trickier since they tend to roam around. There are definitely more dogs in the area than cats. Sometimes the humans take the dogs out for a walk. I never used to see that. Maybe I started something.

3. The tootsie roll yard. This point is kind of yucky and is a mixture of the first two points. There is a particular yard about two blocks up from our house that Mac always seems especially interested in sniffing. I've noticed that she often picks something up in that yard and chews on it as we walk. Since we usually walk in the dark, I haven't been able to see what she was sniffing and eating. The first time it happened, I thought it was part of a dead bird or maybe just some sticks that were stuck together with snow. I quickly came to believe that it might be cat poo, though, because cats live at the houses on either side of this particular yard. Today we walked at lunchtime, so I had a chance to see what she was sniffing and I was right - there was a bunch of cat poo to be seen. I try to hurry Mac past this yard, but it's kinda big and she's pretty strong and has an intense desire for a chewy morsel of kitty dung.  Yes, it's gross as hell. I only made the mistake of trying to get it out of her mouth one time. That's really when I figured out what we were dealing with. Now that is the short-leash portion of our walk.

Ah, the joys of owning a dog!