 |
| Did somebody say "walk"? |
They are her walks, I figure, so I let her choose where we
go. (OK, if I didn’t, we’d have embarrassing arguments at street corners, arguments
I often lose.)
In Inside
A Dog, Alexandra Horowitz
explains, unlike us, dogs’ primary sense is smell, not sight. Sometimes, Lola
will smell something in the ground that makes her normally upright tail fall limp;
she will even refuse to walk past the spot. Creepy. Are bodies buried there?
Lola keeps up her end of the doggy smell conversation,
carefully placing her pee and poop, the latter sadly an exercise in futility
since I pick it up. Lola also loves an audience. That’s why, when we walk past restaurants
with outdoor dining, I have to pull her along, hissing, “Don’t you dare, Lola!”
‘Cause she totally would.
Lola always wants to walk on a nearby shopping street, not
on quiet residential streets. Her favorite spot is a frozen-yogurt shop because
she gets lots of attention from little people covered in yogurt who don’t mind
getting licked. And, operating under the theory of “If I act like I know what I’m
doing, people will think it’s OK,” she will try to duck into other businesses.
One store owner actually asked us if we’d come in and hang out, since the
charismatic Lola
often attracts a crowd.
We have to deal with cats who come out to play mind games
on Lola, whom they absolutely know is on a leash.
And yesterday, we had to get close, but not too close, to
one of those arm-wavy inflatable things (called an AirDancer,
by the way) and watch it for a long time.
Then Lola went home for a nap.
Aww, how cute! My little Chihuahua, Kelso, goes to the park almost every day with me. Some days are "excruciating sniffing" days where he gets stuck at one spot right at the entrance. And others are "galloping" days when he can detect some other dog's pee halfway across the park and just has to get there immediately. He's really good with little kids, who always want to pet him (or poke him in the eye, like today.) But he is a Chihuahua and I often call him "Mr. Willful" when he puts the brakes on and wants to go where we shouldn't---like the men's bathroom. Maybe it's a guy thing?
ReplyDelete