Many Enemies (But Not Sea Anemones)

Yes, here is another item about the neighbors' dog Gretta. You may recall that yesterday I spoke of her eagerness to kill (or to love) a squirrel. She seems to have a lot of adversaries out there. She must be a terribly self-hating creature, because it's not humans who are the problem, although it is humans who most fear her wrath. I don't fault them, really. When a man who looks like me is walking a pit bull looking like her, it's natural to assume I'm her dog-fighting trainer and the walk is part of her regimen.

Really, she loves people. and can in fact be too demonstrative of that fact, considering peoples' fears. Her enemies are chiefly the other dogs out there, and I dread the inevitable passing of two ships in the night every time I spot someone else walking a dog in the opposite direction that I am. I imagine they feel likewise. Actually, if it's an attractive woman walking the other dog, I'm not so sorry for the flash, but that is rare.

There are also those squirrels in the park, but that is not a sure thing by any means, and in any event it happens in a safe, expansive environment. A conflict with a fellow dog on the sidewalk is somewhat more hazardous. There is little space to operate in, and there are people in rather close proximity. With a lot of innocent bystanders to suffer collateral damage and cars hemming us on on the one open side, I try to smile through the moment and keep going.

I try to talk her down from her rage, but I don't know that it helps much. She calms down when heightened emotions fade into the background, but I try anyway in hopes of hastening that. I try to tell her what the consequences will be with her owners, but it inevitably becomes about me and how I'll suffer if I bring back a battered dog or no dog at all. Persuasive arguments are not built around the arguer, but the one with whom they are arguing. I learned that from "How To Win Friends And Influence People". I recommend it.