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I round the corner of my block with Rocky. We're on our after dinner walk. Rocky's on prednisone now which makes him much more thirsty than normal and also much hungrier so he's constantly got his nose to the ground whenever we're outside, snarfling for bits of food.

Rocky catches some scent and sticks his head into the bushes. Too late, I pull him back out and he's already got something in his mouth, chewing. I'm about to go in after it before he can gulp it down but then he crouches back and I think maybe he's just backing up but instead he starts to take a dump.

He's chewing on his new found treat and crapping on the sidewalk and looking up at me and he might as well be saying, "What? I'm multitasking."

From behind me, a little girl and her mom turn the corner. They stop. The little girl goes, "Mommy, lookadoggie."

Oh dear God, I think.

"CanIpethim?" little girl asks.

I can feel mom's eyes focusing in the dark, trying to figure out what's going on. Rocky looks at them. He finishes chewing and gulps and at the same time another large turd drops out of his ass and falls beside the other two turds already deposited on the sidewalk.

"Oh," mom says. "I think we should cross the street." They do so. The little girl looks back at Rocky, disappointed.

I pull out the plastic bags, clean up after my dog, vacate the scene.



5 Comments to “All class”

  1. Anonymous says:

    Every time you write about Rocky, I think about my lab who passed away two years ago. I think they were kindred spirits. Cody constantly had his nose to the ground when we went for walks and could sniff out the most vile, disgusting garbage on the sidewalk (and he wasn't even on any drugs) and have it scarfed down before I even realized what was going on. At least three or four times a week, I had my fingers down his throat trying to get him to throw up something incredibly gross. You would think I never fed him but believe me I did...besides his own food, he would get at least a few bites of whatever I was eating because I couldn't stand to look at his sorry face.

    On walks we would go for blocks and all he would do is pee but, of course, as soon as we came across any people, then he would drop his ass and let loose. I think he just loved having an audience (and humiliating me).

    God, I miss the big lug.

  2. Biscuit says:

    The other day when I was walking Gracie (well, when she was dragging me) I looked down just in time to see her snarf up a yummy big wad of gum. DROP IT DROP IT DROP IT

  3. Biscuit says:

    (unrelatedly, my captcha just now was "kanis")

  4. Fred says:

    Hi Biscuit, I didn't even know there was a word for those annoying are you human tests. Thanks for the schoolin'.

  5. Deva says:

    Isn't there a children's book called "Everybody Poops"? This incident could have provided real life hands-on experience for the little girl. Another opportunity missed...

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A request

The reason for this blog is to help get specific dogs adopted from TAS but equally important is to try to normalize the idea of shelter dogs being just as good and just as desirable as any other dogs including those which are regularly merchandised by backyard breeders, puppy millers and those few remaining pet store owners who still feel a need to sell live animals. The single greatest stigma shelter animals still face is the belief that shelter animals are substandard animals. Anyone who has had enough experience with shelter animals knows this is untrue but the general public hasn't had the same experiences you've had. They see a nice dog photo in a glossy magazine and too many of them would never think of associating that dog with a dog from a shelter. After all, no one abandons perfectly good dogs, right? Unfortunately, as we all know, perfectly good dogs are abandoned all the time.

The public still too often associates shelter dogs with images of beat up, sick, dirty, severely traumatized animals and while we definitely sometimes see victims such as these, they are certainly not the majority and, regardless, even the most abused animals can very often be saved and made whole again.

Pound Dogs sometimes discusses the sad histories some of the dogs have suffered. For the most part, though, it tries to present the dogs not as victims but as great potential family members. The goal is to raise the profiles of animals in adoption centers so that a potential pet owner sees them as the best choice, not just as the charity choice.

So, here's the favour I'm asking. Whenever you see a dog picture on these pages you think is decent enough, I'd like you to consider sharing it on Facebook or any other social media sites you're using (I know many of you do this already and thank you for that). And when you share it, please mention that the dog in the photo is a shelter dog like so many other shelter dogs waiting for a home. If we can get even five percent of the pet buying public to see shelter dogs differently, to see how beautiful they are and how wonderful they are, and to consider shelter dogs as their first choice for a new family member, we can end the suffering of homeless pets in this country.
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