To The Dogs

Is it just me, or do we seem to have an increased dog population in Clark area housing since the beginning of summer? We have had many new folks move in so it shouldn’t be surprising that we have many new furry faces in the neighborhood.

With that maybe we should talk about the social protocol that comes with owning a pet in a community. The first thing that comes to mind is the walking. Dogs have energy (think of it as dog Chi) and according to the Dog Whisperer it should be released on a daily basis. In other words: bleed the Chi. Dogs need to survey their domain, and many need to secure it.

My own male dog, Kip secures quite a bit of it. He is what is known as an Alpha, and as many trees as there are on the street he will take the trouble to mark them all. He is also part foxhound and this bit of him gets us into trouble sometimes on our daily mission. When he spots what he must think look like a fox, but is actually just a cute little fuzz ball of a dog, he kicks into high alert. “Sergeant Rudyard Kipling reporting for duty Sir!” I try to get him to sit but he’s not having it. “Sir, I’m ready Sir, send me in, NOW!” Kip, do you know what a gentle leader is? “Yes, sir, but . . . Thur, Thur?!” So we walk now with a gentle leader harness on him and that helps. As does the bag of meat scraps I carry.

What I’m saying is maintain control of your pet, even when it’s on the lead. And please don’t expect your forty-pound five or six year old child to be able to that with a 60-70 pound animal at the other end. Follow the post rules and never let your dog run loose. I’ve had close encounters of a very bad kind with loose dogs when walking mine. And when it happens accidentally just get them in as soon as possible. We fellow dog owners understand that kids leave doors open and things happen. What we don’t have patience with is folks routinely slipping up.

Another habit that dogs have that is hard to control is barking. After all, it is their form of communication, and just like humans you have your quiet ones and your, let’s say, more gregarious ones. Again, my black hound is a loud one. I try for the neighbors’ sake not to let him out when there will be things he will bark at, which is everything, from people, to other dogs, to a leaf falling from a tree! Just last week he was on a barking jag and I finally figured out that a chipmunk had gotten into our trashcan. After several hours of barking the poor little thing trapped in the can finally died from a nervous embolism, and I hope I can spare my new neighbors the same fate. Kip is now enrolled in Barkaholics Anonymous and I will be attending Bark-Anon, so things should improve. There will be a certain amount of dog conversation that goes on in the neighborhood, though, and that will be especially true when we walk the tree-lined streets of 5th Avenue and we hear the alarm spread from home to home as we perambulate along. Isn’t nice to know that our sentinels never sleep?

And that brings me to the last bit of dog protocol. It’s a tough subject to broach but it should be addressed because no one likes to receive the canine gift that keeps on giving, especially once its embedded in the crevices of a running shoe. Sure it’s biodegradable, but when it drops in a place where kids will be playing just do what I do: take a bag and take IT (the stuff which must not be named) with you!