In Which We Scare Off A Big Dog

We three girls love our morning walks with Mom. I think Mom is loving them a bit less since she's got a pack of wild family dogs leashed to her arm, but she does like the company when walking.

What she doesn't love is other dogs running loose in the neighborhood. She used to treat them with a stern, "Go Home," but after Sarah Beagle got chewed on by a big Rottweiler, Mom has gotten fiercer in her yelling when a strange dog runs towards us.

We were walking this morning, Sarah Beagle and I on the scent of something, Olive Badger dancing on her back legs trying to get birds on a wire, when we all became aware of a strange bark. Then we all became aware of a strange dog. Then we all became away of a strange big dog running towards us.

Mom yelled at it to go home, but it kept running. Olive Badger went berserker. She was all over us, tangling our leashes, practically screaming her barks of rage at this big dog daring to come near us. Her barks got Sarah Beagle and I going, and the three of us were fierce, back fur raised, voices loud, bound together with leashes.

That big dog stopped running. He literally turned his head to the side and stared at us, trying to figure us out. And what he decided was, we were to much to handle and he RAN AWAY.

We scared him off! We were a little crazed with adrenaline for the next few blocks, but that's understandable. We scared off a big dog! And later, a little one, but Olive could have scared the little dog off with one paw tied behind her back. We've seen that little one before, and he usually wears a scarf.

It's hard to feel proud of scaring off a little dog wearing a scarf!

The Rules For Barking On Walks

Mom has some pretty serious rules about barking when we are on walks.

As in, don't bark. It's rude.

If we don't like dogs walking by our house, barking at us, we shouldn't do it to them when we walk by their house.

Olive Badger does not follow this rule at all. Olive Badger is a Badger born to bark. She puts her whole body into it and fairly vibrates the leash with her frenzy.

Mom does not approve. And when she picks Olive Badger up to carry her away from the barking spot, Olive does not approve. Yet, Olive continues to bark while we are walking, Mom continues to pick her up, and Sarah Beagle and I continue to pretend we aren't with them.

It's a walk, for goodness sake, Olive Badger! Stop being carried! It's starting to embarrass us.

My Name Is Emma Leave-It

My name is Emma Leave-It, or at least that is how it seems when we walk with Mom. She is constantly saying, "Emma! Leave it!"

All I'm doing is enjoying our walk, but she's against me.

Take yesterday for example. Sarah Beagle and I found a lovely dead squirrel, and we'd barely gotten a chance to give it a sniff before Mom was saying things like No! and Leave It! and That is so gross!

Olive Badger, meanwhile, was looking up at some birds on a wire and didn't even know that a real dead squirrel was just lying in the bushes, begging for some good sniffing.

If it's still there tomorrow, I'll be ready. I remember every place I sniffed a gross thing or stolen a treat to eat. Olive Badger, meanwhile, remembers where every dog lives that has ever barked at us, and a block from the barkers house, she is on alert, ready to growl and bark. If only she'd put that devotion into finding dead squirrels!

Right now it's Sarah Beagle and I pulling Mom one way, and Olive Badger pulling the other. If we joined forces, just think of all the pull we'd have! We'd get more than just a drag by sniffing of dead squirrels.