Thursday, October 12, 2017

A Pitbull at Heart



Throughout his entire life, my dog never likes other dogs. Our neighbors had to reroute their dog when they saw mine approaching them.  Recently, we went to Sunnybrook Park, where there is a dog park. I had never been to a dog park, so that trip was more for me...

After we stepped out of the car, he walked about 100 meters and found a nice piece of turf and started to go in circles. He had already squatted down, but as soon as he saw a little dog coming our way, he forgot about doing his business and started barking at him. "Sorry." I said to the owner who gave me a grim smile, which reminded me of a friend who once told me that "some dog owners are idiots for bringing their stupid dog to a dog park." With that thought in mind, we ventured further into the woods. Before long, we saw a Malamute marching toward us. He was huge in size, yet meek in spirit. My dog looked a bit panicky and placed his paws on my wheel asking to climb up to my laps. No thanks. My dog came around to the other side of my chair so I could become his shield against this giant. The whole minute while the Malamute was inside our comfort zone, Heihei was tiptoeing with his head down. But minutes later, Heihei started to bark toward the direction where the big guy was becoming smaller and smaller. He was so mad that he looked a little bulkier with the furs on his back all standing up.

I tightened up his leash. As we walked another 20 meters, we saw a professional dog walker with her 7 dogs coming towards us. They got along very well, pacing at the same speed. It was an art that none of their leashes were tangled. All of the sudden, Heihei started yapping again, totally destroyed the peaceful dynamic. Three of the small dogs were triggered, they started to exchanged fire and fury like the park had never, seen, before. "Sorry!" I had to keep apologizing for him. It's embarrassing that my dog brought out the worst in dogs.

Then, we reached the heart of the dog park, where my favorite animals could run wildly and freely. Pooches were wagging their tails as their owners were unbuckling their leash. What if there is another idiot bringing their stupid dog to the park? With that thought, I scooped my dog from the ground and put him on my laps as we went into the gates. The small dogs had a designated area, but we were staying outside the fence and watching them chasing and playing with each other. Some of them looked so perky wearing their fancy costumes. I had an amazing time. But my dog was constantly making this grumpy noise. I could feel the vibrations of his vocal cord. "just a few more minutes, buddy."

Then, I kinda smelled something, and no matter where I relocated, it stuck with me like a foxy armpit. Then, I realized that I had stepped on a "golden" road bomb. It was all over one of my wheels.  I looked towards where we had come from, I realized we had to find an alternative exit. And the only other option was to go through the big dog's playground. Okay then, half way through the park, I saw a ball flying above my head, 3 seconds later, all the big dogs were running toward our direction. One of them looked so scary, he was skinny and tall, had a face of a human. He was particularly interested in us. I put my hands on my dog to steady him, and whispering, " dude, we gonna die, don't make a sound." I had no more hands to wheel my chair so we froze there and were surrounded by dogs. Heihei was so quiet that he almost was holding his breath as well. I was pretty impressed by his ability of risk evaluation. Fortunately, as another ball flew above us, the dogs left us alone.

Love the dog park, minus the smelly gold, minus the fury drama.