There is a breed of people. Fiance and I discovered them one cool night when friends of ours were dog sitting – this being way back before we got our first (and now only) pupski.
Dog people.
These are the people who will bring their dogs to a dog park – enclosed or not so much (like the one up the street from us) – and chat with you.
They’ll ask about your dog – the breed, age, habits, anything dog related. Then they’ll tell you about their dog.
All this without introducing themselves, you’ll never know their names, only their dogs name. And if you don’t know the dog name? You know the breed. All this while half-assedly watching their own dog who will likely be terrorizing other dogs in the park, including your own. Meanwhile, you half listen, and yell out ever few minutes “[Insert Dog name here] STOP THAT! [IDNH] COME!”
Last night, we took Ellie to a dog park that we happen to be members of – one of DC’s only dog parks is a members only park, yes we are members. Ellie was running around and bugging dogs to chase her. She likes to be chased. Mostly because dog likes to run.
We were walking behind three women who were walking around with their dogs, a poodle and a shi tzu. Eventually, Ellie was bugging the shi tzu to chase her and next thing we know, they’re rolling around and growling in a mini-dog fight.
Now, Fiance and I know Ellie. 1. She’s never started a scuffle. 2. She’s really harmless. Even if she is twice the size of the dog in question, she’s never bitten. Her and Molly got into a couple scuffles – neither of which resulted in biting – and was usually because Molly was incredibly bone possessive and if Ellie came anywhere NEAR her bones? She’d growl – as if she was saying “back up the bus bitch. This is my bone.”
This dog probably didn’t like Ellie bugging her/him/it and snapped at her and given that Ellie was twice the size, it sounded worse than it was. Even still, we called out to Ellie and ran out to get her. The dogs broke themselves up and Ellie trotted over to us and we leashed her up. The other dog ran back to the owner (after she said “oh they’re fine.” Even though clearly they weren’t.) and she carefully checked it’s neck for any bruises.
Ellie’s been in a couple of scuffles, but she’s never bitten. She’s been bit – Fiance once had to pry a pug off her jaw resulting in a small scar below her eye – but she’s never bitten.
The frustrating part of this is that the woman wasn’t really watching her dog. She was chatting with her friends. Fiance and I were both watching Ellie-belle, and tried to stop this before it started. It just got heated quickly. After that, we leashed her up and walked in opposite directions of the women and their yip-yip dogs.
This has happened before. We took her out to a fenced in dog park in Alexandria and Fiance ran over to a nearby Home Depot leaving me to watch Elliekins by my lonesome at the park which was full of yip-yips that day. The owners were all sitting on a picnic table chatting.
A little terrier of some sort started bugging Ellie, pulling at her tail, her legs – Molly used to do this to Ellie and it pisses her off – and I saw that she was getting stressed out. Her tail was down, she was trying to get away from this little bastard puppy.
I finally asked the dog if she could please get her dog for a second while I leashed Ellie up because I couldn’t coax her from out from under a picnic table. Not to mention the dog was right there jumping up on my arm while I tried to leash her up, “Oh he’s fine.” she told me.
No, no it really wasn’t. Ellie was about two seconds away from getting pissed. She’s never started a scuffle but she certainly knows how to make her unhappiness known.
My beef with these people who call themselves “dog people” is that they aren’t always the most aware ones of the group. They don’t always pay attention and I fear they see dog ownership more as a means to socializing in an urban setting than one of actually loving the dog. I’m sure they care deeply about their dog but why don’t you just watch it while you’re at the park? Can’t you chat while you watch your dog?
I’m a dog person through and through. I love my dog and would do anything for her, including jumping in at the risk of being bitten myself. But seriously people, watch your dogs don’t just sit there and gossip and shoot the breeze with the other dog owner next to you.
