Damaged?

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!