Vaudeville Dog
Or perhaps ‘Pratfall Puppy’ ?
Whilst taking the ‘Fluffy Little White Dust Mop Dog’ for walks he exhibits unusual behavior. At least one hopes that it’s unusual. It would be sort of depressing if all dogs were this loopy.
Upon seeing rival, and smaller, dogs across the street it seems to be necessary to assume a courageous pose, then bound forward at speed. This sort of kangaroo performance is designed, one supposes, to intimidate, or at least impress, the Chihuahuas watching from across the road.
Apparently it is also necessary to look sideways, at the Chihuahuas, in order to gauge their level of intimidation… Rather than looking straight ahead, in the direction of travel.
I’m afraid that I’ve begun talking to the dog recently. So as I jogged alongside in my efforts to keep up I actually said, “Look out for that tree.” He wasn’t paying attention to my warning, and looking back it doesn’t make sense for me to give directions rather than yanking on the leash to prevent the inevitable collision. He actually bounced back off the tree, sat down, stared at the offending plant, and shook his head like a character from a Tex Avery cartoon.
Days later I recounted the story to a friend. She tsk-tsked me and mentioned that back in July when she’d been kind enough to take the fluffy bonehead for walks he’d repeated the performance, and bumped into trees at least twice.
Her final comment was, “Yup. He’s pretty cute, but awfully dumb. Even for one of those dust mop dogs.”