Our walks have become routine, more or less, but the old man does try to vary them a little from time to time. I suppose he gets bored. Dog Almighty knows I don't; I'm always anxious to go.
This morning we went straight past the Legion, and I knew we were going to do a couple extra blocks. It was if fate decreed that I should have a gift! There was a dead bird, flat as a pancake, alongside the alley. I took a quick glance at the old guy and dove in. He walked right by and didn't notice a thing until he hit the leash limit. By that time I already reeked. It was great! He actually let me roll in it for a minute or two before urging me on. Heck, I'm still inhaling right now.
Eventually, we made our way back to the railroad tracks and headed for the park on the other side of the highway. The killdeers are back and nesting. I have never seen a more inept pack of birds in my life. Broken wings of epidemic porportions seem to plague that tribe. I began to wonder if they weren't faking it. Dogs! I'd love to take after them, but my human won't let me off the leash. They come so close and tantalize me, always just out of reach. I'd give my right dew claw to grab one. They look delicious.
When we get to the park, the old guy always makes the loop on the sidewalk. He often lets me off the leash so I can run. Sometimes I really cut loose and run huge circles around him. It's so doggone much fun that I have to bark once in a while. Anyway, the old man gets a kickout of it and starts laughing and hollering, "Way to go, Spooky!" and "Com'on, Spooks!" You know, that kind of stuff. He'll even clap now and then. If a dog ever came by and saw all this, I'd be so embarrassed, I swear I'd crawl into a hole.
But you have to look beyond all that. It really doesn't take much to keep a human happy, and after all, like it or not, we are living in a human world. If more dogs took an extra step to treat their humans better, they probably wouldn't be so crabby and we'd all be better off.
Well, after all that running around, we left the park, going under the railroad tracks, and coming out by the old John Deere shop. There's some wonderful sniffing back there. I don't know where all that rotten junk comes from, but it's great stuff. Then we cross the highway by Bumper to Bumper and head back to the store.
Today we ran into an elderly human female with a pack of human pups. I ran over to them and licked 'em all up. They giggled and laughed like mad. I like human pups. They're hardly ever grouchy, and I always get some good pats.
We're into a routine. Every time we get back, my human lets me hunt up someone to beg for a fresh yummy.
And this is really weird! There is another bald, old human at the store. He resembles my human like you wouldn't believe! They've gotta be from the same litter. I just can't see how it could be otherwise. My human has his fur trimmed on his face to leave a moustache under his nose and the other one has chin whiskers. They remind me of Schnausers. Anyway, that guy's always good for some raw burger, and he makes good stuff.
There's a little female human who hangs around there, too. She's almost always good for sliced turkey that's just delicious. She moves real fast and reminds me of a Chihuahua. You know how their movements seem to be speeded up? They make a big deal of dropping little bits of meat and luring me back to the room where I spend the day, like I'm some kind of idiotwho can't see through the game.
Oh, well, my philosophy is: "Keep the humans happy and we're all better off."
WoofDah!
Spooky
FMK
