Gold Rush

My house sits on a cul-de-sac at the end of a short road, maybe 3 tenths of a mile. My street lets out onto Manktown Road, which is fairly rural in the sense that there are no sidewalks, only sloping gravel shoulders. The footing isn't great, and the traffic rushes past faster than it should probably be going. In short, there's no good place to walk the dogs from my house. If I want to take them for a decent walk, I need to load them in the car and take them elsewhere.

The three spots I normally go are into Warren village, Thomaston, or the boardwalk in Rockland. Today I opted to take Elli to Thomaston, so we could take advantage of some steep hills to get a good workout. Elli could stand to drop a pound or two before Nationals next week.

{Elli would like me to say, in the spirit of honesty, that I could stand to lose MORE than a pound or two myself. Pot, meet kettle.}

Anywho, we had just walked up a nice steep hill, panting (Elli) and puffing (me), when a Golden Retriever spotted us from across the street. Totally ignoring the two adult humans and one child in the yard with it, the Golden rushed across the street and came after Elli. In hindsight, I don't think it was bent on death or anything, or there would have been bloodshed. But he did a lot of growling and air snapping, and I think managed to grab Elli's tail once. There ensued much yelping from her, growling from the Golden, and kicking and yelling of obscenities from yours truly.

After what seemed like forever but was probably only 15 seconds or so, the idiot owner of the Golden finally came and got her dog. Be proud of me: I didn't rip her face off. I did, however, remind her that there is this little thing called a leash law, and she needs to have her dog behind a fence or on a leash or tie-out.

I walked Elli back to the car, then drove by the house. There was no sign of the people or Golden, but I did take note of the address, then drove over to the town office. They gave me the phone number of the animal control officer. I called him and he was right down the street, so I drove down and gave him the information. He said he will follow-up with them and further impress upon them the importance of keeping their dog leashed. It was less satisfying but more law-abiding than me going postal on the person.

But next time I walk one of my dogs in town? I am carrying a BIG stick. And the next dog that rushes mine is getting the shit beat out of it. And if it's the same dog, then I WILL use the stick on the person too.