Columns: No Limits, No Kidding!

LATE NIGHT STRAY DOG ENCOUNTER

I’m out alone enjoying a late-night walk when I see a huge dog coming towards me and he is NOT wagging his tail. I’ve been known to tell the future but…

Stella Starr, Pet Perspectives

May 29, 2024

As the dog gets closer, I can see he has no tail to wag. They must have cut it off! I’m a “cat person” so I’m not doing well at reading this dog’s intention and I feel very vulnerable as we approach each other. Put yourself in this situation.

My mind is calculating like a computer! The economy can make people move quickly, often abandoning their dogs. Is this giant dog starving, vicious or friendly? A large part of telling fortunes is reading people but I can’t predict dogs! Desperately, I try. Is his mouth closed (threatening) or open (friendly)?

Does he slow his approach (fear or aggression?) My brain is wildly sorting, analyzing and trying to determine what’s in this dog’s mind and whether he is friendly or aggressive.

I wish I had my crystal ball to “sense” whether I’m in danger as this huge dog enters my personal space. We all give off vibrations that are recognizable even by dissimilar species. The dog will have read me too and I’m trying not to show fear. I’ve been told if your energy field is powerful and radiates confidence, an animal encounter can be interesting but otherwise, uneventful.

Okay. I got that. I’m not hyper-tensive and I don’t have a fear of dogs. Surely, he will have sensed that.

He is within a few feet of me now. Looking right at me. The streetlight suddenly seems dimmer… I squeak something like “Hi doggy, whacha doing tonight.”

With mouth gaping wide, that amazing dog SITS to show me he’s friendly! Whew! What a good dog! Unconsciously, I think I must have said that out loud… Now I’m laughing sheepishly. The dog thinks it’s funny too, cocks his head and drops his tongue out even further!

I say “Good boy” and give him a rub on that huge skull. He wiggles and smiles. All IS good, in fact, I seem to have made his day. I stroke him under the chin, tell him goodnight and without looking back, head for home but I am thinking…

I am a woman alone. What if that big dog had been a human, a man of the same imposing size? I could have said “Hi there” or “Nice night, eh?” but we wouldn’t have been at ease with each other because we were, well, strangers. Even though we could speak the same language, I would have been very aware of my vulnerability.

Somehow this dog, a non-human, read me and no less remarkable, me, a cat person, understood him. The dog sensed my concern and like a friendly human he showed me he had no bad intentions by sitting down. Is that not amazing?

I know a lot more about cats and people but agree with me, I handled this situation quite well didn’t I???

Surely my embarrassingly (!) unforeseen encounter offers some insight to all those people who subscribe to TheDogPress.com but I hope none of my clients read this because although I “tell fortunes” and am good at predictions, I didn’t see this coming!

TheDogPress.com EST 2002 © May 2024 https://www.thedogpress.com/Columns/late-night-dog-encounter-st24ST053.asp

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