When we brought him home from the shelter all those years ago, we were not sure if he would stay in the yard and we didn’t have a fenced in yard. So we always took him out on a leash for nice long walks to let him do what he needed to do. It seemed like a great idea at the time. We lived on the edge of a neighborhood development so just one house away got us into the woods where Truman could take aim and pee on anonymous trees in the forest, rather than someone’s prized rhododendrons.
But what it also did was to teach Truman is that he doesn’t want to do any of his business in our yard. He only wants to take care of business if he is out on a walk.
We live in a different city now and there are no woods nearby so we spend a lot of time walking through the neighborhood with our dog, keeping him away from the prized rhododendrons. My husband knows everyone in the larger neighborhood area not by name, but by their dog’s names. It’s too funny. When we meet people in the neighborhood in social situations, we hear comments like, “Oh, you guys are the ones who are always out walking your dog.” Yes, we’re the crazy dog people.
On the bright side, it’s great exercise for both dog and human! Of course when it’s 20 below zero, the exercise doesn’t seem so appealing..
So all of this walking with the dog gets me thinking about stuff. Like how does a dog automatically know that he should pee on a fire hydrant? Truman is constantly on the lookout for fire hydrants. Yes, I know he smells the scent of other dogs, but how did that very first dog know that peeing on a fire hydrant is something that all dogs must do? And I wonder if they know how cliché they are being. A dog peeing on a fire hydrant. Yeah, real original. Way to be a trendsetter.
But here’s the one that makes me think that dogs are much smarter than people ever give them credit for. We have a beautiful walk/run/bike trail in our neighborhood. It runs past a park. Every time we take the trail past the park, Truman makes an incredibly strong beeline for a certain sign on the edge of the park. I have attached a photo of it below.
There’s no stopping him. He is determined and uses all his strength to get to it. I have to pre-plan how I will get by the park. If there are people in the park or if there are cars going by, I either run by the sign as fast as I can and hope he doesn’t see it or catch a whiff, or I casually turn and walk out on the road with him. Because it’s just too embarrassing to be standing there while your dog is peeing on a “No Pets Allowed” sign!
I certainly admire his “Don’t let the man keep you down!” attitude though! There’s probably some little nugget of wisdom to be learned there. I’ll need to think about it while I’m out there on our next walk!
Keep on smiling!
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