Dumb dogs
Bobo is even crazier than usual today. It feels like there's storm coming, which could be part of the reason, but even so, he's acting like he's dumb.
And no, I don't mean stupid - he's never been particularly bright, so I don't expect intelligent behaviour and rational thinking from him. What I mean is that I'm getting the strangest impression that even if he could speak, he wouldn't have uttered a word all day.
It's not a vocal thing - he's never been a particularly yappy dog (which is certainly one of his more endearing features). I mean, apart from the occasional yelp when he falls off the sofa or hurts himself somehow, he doesn't make a sound anyway. But today he has that weird, vacant look of a person who's been struck mute by some terrible trauma.
Took him for a walk, and we went up a little back street that I haven't taken before. Not a great street for walking a dog, as it turned out - full of mean, broken-down houses with mean, broken-down dogs tied to trees and locked behind chain-link fences. All of them angry, all of them barking. Animal fury in the air. Fear, frustration, anxiety about the weather, all thick in the atmosphere of that dusty little street. Rusty cars parked out front or up on blocks behind the house.
Turned the corner.
A quieter road, grass verges and houses set further back from the tarmac, but there was a noisy construction vehicle at work here - a cherry-picker, I think. The wind picked up and the leaves and dust started to swirl in the warm, humid air - much too warm for January. The engine roared and growled at the dark skies above as the giant metal monster loomed over us.
Bobo was panting now, his eyes bulging as he strained at the leash. Not to get away, though: he'd pull ahead, then get transfixed by the scent on a tuft of grass and become immovable as I tugged at the leash and tried to get him walking again.
Eventually we got back. His eyes continued to move erratically. He took a couple of disinterested laps at his water bowl (in place of his usual frenzied drinking after a long walk), and shuffled over to his pillow.
He hasn't moved since.
And no, I don't mean stupid - he's never been particularly bright, so I don't expect intelligent behaviour and rational thinking from him. What I mean is that I'm getting the strangest impression that even if he could speak, he wouldn't have uttered a word all day.
It's not a vocal thing - he's never been a particularly yappy dog (which is certainly one of his more endearing features). I mean, apart from the occasional yelp when he falls off the sofa or hurts himself somehow, he doesn't make a sound anyway. But today he has that weird, vacant look of a person who's been struck mute by some terrible trauma.
Took him for a walk, and we went up a little back street that I haven't taken before. Not a great street for walking a dog, as it turned out - full of mean, broken-down houses with mean, broken-down dogs tied to trees and locked behind chain-link fences. All of them angry, all of them barking. Animal fury in the air. Fear, frustration, anxiety about the weather, all thick in the atmosphere of that dusty little street. Rusty cars parked out front or up on blocks behind the house.
Turned the corner.
A quieter road, grass verges and houses set further back from the tarmac, but there was a noisy construction vehicle at work here - a cherry-picker, I think. The wind picked up and the leaves and dust started to swirl in the warm, humid air - much too warm for January. The engine roared and growled at the dark skies above as the giant metal monster loomed over us.
Bobo was panting now, his eyes bulging as he strained at the leash. Not to get away, though: he'd pull ahead, then get transfixed by the scent on a tuft of grass and become immovable as I tugged at the leash and tried to get him walking again.
Eventually we got back. His eyes continued to move erratically. He took a couple of disinterested laps at his water bowl (in place of his usual frenzied drinking after a long walk), and shuffled over to his pillow.
He hasn't moved since.
posted by Sentinel at
3:26 AM
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