Vignettes: A Boy And His Dog (Shallow Thoughts)

Vignettes: A Boy And His Dog

The maniacal barking of the neighbors' loony dogs brought me to the kitchen window one morning, to see the young man walking his dog along the street outside the house.

The man was tall, ponytailed, intense; the dog, a german shepherd with a look of abundant alertness and interest, yet heeling close to his master's side.

They had just stepped off the curb to cross the street when some minor transgression on the part of the german shepherd -- did he glance over at the loony neighbor dogs? -- called a halt.

They stopped still, frozen in the intersection, tense and alert, man and dog communicating using movements too subtle for me to discern them from the window where I watched, fascinated.

In a minute, the conflict, invisible to an outsider, was resolved, the two players merged back into one, and the pair continued on their way, the ponytailed young man and the alert, obedient shepherd.

Tags: dog
[ 11:33 Jan 29, 2005    More misc | permalink to this entry | ]