Walk the Line

Ah fall ... Raimi, Rory, Kathryn and I met tonight at the park for a warm autumn evening constitutional. The air was still and the sun sat at the perfect blinding height so we couldn't look west without searing our corneas. Sadly this just means that the sun is dropping lower in the sky and soon we will be walking in the dark.

Along the way we met a liver nosed RR named Cliff and the boys played and played and played. Rory was a bit rude with the adolescent mounting and getting his groove on but Raimi did him one better and was licking unmentionable parts of strange dogs with disturbing interest. I told Raimi he should be embarrassed at his behaviour but he didn't seem to appreciate the delicate nature of the situation.

A GSD puppy arrived with many hackles and typically odd GSD behaviour. Sometimes I think dog are a little wigged out by the creepiness of other dogs and in turn become more tetchy and nervous themselves. While Raimi and Cliff had a big run fest Rory played with the GSD who relaxed a little when he realized he was on a level playing field with another puppy.

I didn't see what happened because everyone had been playing so well but suddenly Raimi was roaring at the GSD puppy and there was much gnashing of teeth and noise. I thought it was all bluff until the puppy backed off and Raimi went after him again. Of course I shot after Raimi and grabbed his collar and started yelling at him about how bad he was and the puppy ran to his dad. Then Rory came in with "Hiya guys what's happening?" and Raimi started snarling at him.

Okay so I hardly ever get mad at Raimi. But this was so unexpected from him that I thunked him a good couple cuffs to the head and yelled some more. Cliff's dad promptly took off with Cliff and I'm quite sure he thinks I'm a terrible dog owner or a psychotic bitch ... or both. He'd been asking about when I was expecting my next litter ... I guess that sale fell through! The GSD puppy's owner took his puppy off with a wave and understanding - maybe there is hope yet for the puppy.

Raimi got another yelling at for not listening quick enough which my upstairs neighbours(who were walking their dog at the same park) said they could hear a few hundred yards away.

Every time I discipline the dogs at the park I imagine it looks way harsher than it really is. I create a lot of noise and scare tactics and only employ cuffing if the bad behaviour was violent or aggressive. I look at it this way: if my dog behaves badly people at the park are not going to say "Tamzin Horan's dog ..." they are going to say "There was a Ridgeback this one time ..." What they will remember instead was the psycho bitch who screamed at her dog and made a big scene. What kind of dog was it ... a big red one but he didn't really deserve to get in that much trouble.

If it's any consolation I hurt my hand on his skull.