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| Chopper the Dog with Abby, Jen and Taylor |
Ten years ago was the first annual dog walk day in our village. Aside from looking somewhat Felliniesque (yes it is a term - look it up why don't ya') once the parade started up, it was a mid-day of yips and howls and a few dozen owners watching other dogs sniff each other and making friendly small talk.
Couple things occurred to me. Nothing special but it was good to see folks, total strangers, being able to laugh and say nice things, make fusses about someone else's pet and no one having the "WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I DOING HERE" look you see at dinners, b-b-q's and happy hours. Humans behaving with civility and grace. Good humor flowing.
Chopper, our Boston Terrier, got lots of oohs and ahhs which he understood and now figures is the norm and this morning we better do it or he'll look hurt. He also met a few dozen other dogs of all types and there were no cross words, snips, snaps or grrrs. He, and all the dogs, met all comers as equals with no "superior breed" class warfare.
So my takeaways? Well I've got a great family and dog and we smiled all day. We went to something that was all good cheer and perhaps we need to find more of those things; those happy to be here things. And dogs are a lot less judgmental and more eager to befriend than most humans of my acquaintance and if we could be that openly social and accepting we would be a lot better off.