I’m sure somewhere out there in this
vast country I call home there is a man that actually looks forward to the
ending of daylight saving time; maybe one day I will meet him. I probably wouldn't have much in
common with this mystery man because I hate it! The days are naturally getting
shorter anyway… aren't we going about this backward? I feel like it gets dark right
after lunch and I’m ready for bed at 7:30!
Today I decided to try and fool
Mother Nature and actually do something outside after work. I had stopped by Lowes earlier in
the day to purchase a few bags of cow manure (you can now purchase land one bag at a time) for my winter garden, but I would
have to hurry if I wanted to get it spread before dark. I know this is not much
of a job, but with so little time and a dog that had been penned up all day vying
for my attention, I knew it was going to be close.
I dropped the truck’s tailgate and as
I pulled the wagon closer I noticed one of the tires was flat. Now I would have to either lug the
bags to my garden or take the time to find my little compressor and inflate the
tire! Things were certainly not going as planned and they were compounded by a
fifty pound dog-child that wanted to be absolutely sure that her evening walk
was not forgotten. I swear this dog will attempt to sniff the hammer in full swing,
but that is a story for another day. The easy answer was to simply lug the
individual bags to the garden!
After dropping off the first bag I
headed back to the truck for the others. It is not uncommon for my energetic dog to streak past me
when I work outside (or inside for that matter), but I noticed that it was not
me that held her interest. With ears pinned flat against her head, I watched as she
rocketed toward the street! It was at this point I noticed that her focus was a
young woman; walking stick in hand…ears sealed with head phones…new to the
neighborhood…walking past my driveway! I knew my screams would go unheard; the
walker was listening to music and everybody knows that a dog’s ears close off
when they run at sixty miles an hour; I screamed
anyway.
Naturally neither heard me and in the
blink of an eye, Sunshine (my streak of white lightning) had reached the walker. She screamed as the dog cut in
front of her and placed both front feet on her chest! Luckily the walker’s
first reaction was to remove the ear phones (not swing the stick) and unplugged
she could now hear my pleas. I can only imagine how fast her heart was beating
as she looked at the retreating dog and struggled to say “that is one friendly dog!” Welcome to the neighborhood.
I have to say that I consider myself
lucky; the lady was nice about everything and nobody was injured. Sunshine, on the other hand, received
a piece of my mind that I could tell she didn't fully understand. Of course some
of the browbeating I gave her was for the walker to hear, but once she was out
of earshot I started to feel a little guilty. I know this is unacceptable
behavior and someone could have been hurt, but how does one explain this to a
dog whose only intention was to spread some love?
This dog spent most of her two years
in what really amounts to an orphanage. I don’t want to give the impression that I think the care
and attention given her at ARF was anything less than stellar, but it will
never be the same as a real home. I have to know that as she watched other dogs
come and go hope was hard to hold on to. While she had many friends, she never
had a family of her own. But as damaged as she may be, her natural reaction to
a stranger was one of love and happiness, not fear and mistrust. Innocent until
proven guilty; thank you Sunshine!
