Lots of folks walk their dogs along our beach road. The cool of the morning and shade of the evenings, of course, are the optimum times.
All sizes and sorts seem represented. While anyone who takes the time and energy to exercise their pooch is clearly a kind and considerate cut above the rest, almost all humanoids I see have one major failing, viz., nearly everyone refuses to allow their hound to do their business in hound time. Most dog owners love their dogs but most dog owners are embarrassed by their dogs. After all, here is an important fellow who moves millions each day, now standing idly around under his neighbors' gaze, while his Sheltie's nose is plunged into some pee puddle or poop plop. And who could blame the blushing young woman, the one with her eye on the cute guy across the street, if she tugs hard at her Lab which picks THAT precise moment to double-hunch into an enormous knot for a gigantic public BM?
Consequently, rather than "walk" their pets I've noticed that many owners drag and jerk them along at a self-conscious, avoid-embarrassment-at-any-cost human pace, not in dog time. Alas. I can only imagine what some of us would do if we were jerked off the can every night right in the middle of doing our business. And, as for the seemingly interminable sniff-a-thons that dogs go through when a curious scent is detected, if folks would only keep in mind: This is IT for the dog; after a day of boredom, yawning and sleeping in the house or backyard by themselves, this visit to the outside world with all its sights, sounds AND smells is the dog's big deal for the day. This adventure is your pet's daily newspaper, his magazine, his television, his telephone, his internet, his book, his banter at school, his chit-chat in the workplace. This is IT; this is the only time in the dog's day where the world has purpose and meaning and interest. If people understood this I think they would learn more patience with their pets. But I must admit, when I walk Disney I too feel a degree of self-consciousness and embarrassment like everyone else when she stops about every yard to "mark" some grass.
Dogs! What would we do without them? They certainly keep us humans humble.
