Thursday, September 23, 2004
Last night Kevin I and took Top for a walk on the walking trails that are just a hop, skip, and a jump from our house. Considering that was one of the things we loved about the location of this house, we rarely take walks there. It was just such a lovely evening that we decided to take an after-dinner stroll. Almost immediately, an unleashed dog came bounding up to us. We sort of looked around for the owner, but none was to be found. The strange dog and Top sniffed each others bottoms and then gave each other a couple of friendly kisses. From that point on, the strange dog followed us everywhere. It was sort of cute how Top and the dog walked so amiably together. However, other people walking their dogs were glaring at us, for our unleashed dog was pestering their leashed dogs. We would shake Top's leash at them and say, "Our dog is leashed! That's not our dog! She's following us! She's not ours!!"
This reminded me of the last few days my Brad and I spent in Greece. There was a huge stray dog that latched on to us every time we left the hotel. We had taken to walking to a nearby beach to watch the sun set after dinner. The big smelly dog would follow us and sit with us. We tried to shoo him to no avail. The problem with this was that he wasn't all that friendly. The little Greek children would come try to pet him and he would growl and snap. The children would scream and their parents would yell at us angrily in Greek. We didn't speak the language and could neither tell the children not to pet him or explain that he wasn't our dog. We giggled about it a lot, because Brad and I giggle about everything, but we were terrified that we were going to be thrown in a Greek jail when this dog that was not ours would maim a Greek child.
This reminded me of the last few days my Brad and I spent in Greece. There was a huge stray dog that latched on to us every time we left the hotel. We had taken to walking to a nearby beach to watch the sun set after dinner. The big smelly dog would follow us and sit with us. We tried to shoo him to no avail. The problem with this was that he wasn't all that friendly. The little Greek children would come try to pet him and he would growl and snap. The children would scream and their parents would yell at us angrily in Greek. We didn't speak the language and could neither tell the children not to pet him or explain that he wasn't our dog. We giggled about it a lot, because Brad and I giggle about everything, but we were terrified that we were going to be thrown in a Greek jail when this dog that was not ours would maim a Greek child.
