My column this week has gone to the dogs.
I mean, some people probably figure that happened years ago, but this week it’s literal.
A few weeks ago I mentioned the person I saw walking a pair of dogs who insisted on walking on either side of any pole they came to.
Well, this week I saw someone with a pair of small dogs out for a walk and paused beside a bus stop sign. One of the dogs was sniffing the post, as dogs are wont to do (catching up on the news of who’s been by recently) while the other one just stood there.
The first dog finished sniffing and took a few steps away, at which point the second dog moved up and started sniffing. I was looking at the post and thinking: “There’s plenty of room for both of you to sniff it at the same time. Why are you taking turns?”
A couple of days later I was driving down Fifth Avenue and came up behind a vehicle with a semi-large dog in the backseat. We were in the through lane, right next to the left-turn lane.
As the vehicles in the left-turn lane started to move forward, the dog sprang into action.
The first vehicle got two full-throated barks as it went by.
The second one got a full-throated bark and a not-so-full-throated bark.
The third one got a couple of polite woofs.
By the time the fourth vehicle went by, the dog had pulled its head back inside the window. I assume it figured it had done its job by scaring away some of the vehicles, at least.
Later that day, I pulled up beside a pickup with a dog in the passenger seat. The dog was pushed up against the door, obviously by choice, since there was nobody else in the front seat except the driver.
As we sat there, the dog sort of looked at the driver. If it had been a person, I know it would have been thinking: “You know very well what you did, and I’m not talking to you until we get home.”
But since it was a dog, I don’t know if that was what it was thinking.
On my way home that day, I passed by a woman and her dog who had just crossed the street at an intersection.
The woman obviously figured on going straight ahead, but the dog made a quick left turn. When the woman pulled a bit on the leash, the dog gave her a look like, “but there are so many more interesting smells this way.”
People-watching while I’m out, either walking or riding, is a lot of fun. Dog-watching is almost as much fun.