My family takes morning walks; Mr Lincoln in the stroller, LooLoo on the leash and Bobfone and I on foot.

LooLoo is still rehabbing from her ACL repair and her P/T exercise is walking 30 minutes a day so that’s what we do; we walk 30 minutes every morning through our neighborhood.

It’s a lovely neighborhood.  

The oldest homes are just about 40 years old and many are newer.  

Lots of huge trees and flowers everywhere…..just a real pretty neighborhood to walk.

And we’re often accompanied by wild turkeys either in front of us, behind us or alongside of us.

 

The streets are all little cul-d-sacs with four to six houses on them.  

We know how far to walk to make it 30 minutes. 

We take in three different neighborhood cul-d-sacs.  

The other morning as we turned into one of them, someone who looked like he was a lost member of the TV show Duck Dynasty was standing in his garage.  

When he saw us walking, he came to the end of his driveway and loudly proclaimed that he had two unleashed dogs and they may run out at us and our dogs.

“HEY, I got two unleashed dogs, here” he yelled.

Right away I’m thinking, “well, leash them ASSHOLE.” Just THINKIN’ mind you.

And huge they were…..Saint Bernards.

I don’t know any Saint Bernard’s nor do I know anything about them other than they’re real big and wear keg-looking things around their necks. 

But for some reason, I’ve always thought them as just big, gentle dogs.

We’re animal lovers and aren’t usually fearful but it was the guy who concerned us.

By this time we were already half-way out of the cul-d-sac but right in front of Duck’s driveway.  

He was obviously itching for an argument.

“They might come after you, I’m just warning you.” He yelled.

“We’re just neighbors, walking our dogs.” I said as controlled as I could.

And in part of a second, as if on command, both dogs began a gallop, straight toward LooLoo on her leash.

My heart sunk. 

They stopped short of her, again as if on command and, like their master, stared at the four of us, almost daring us to move.

LooLoo froze and pushed up against Bobfone as close as she could get.

LooLoo is a 40 pound dog with a big bark but a very delicate demeanor; she’s a lover, not a fighter. 

I guess they weren’t interested in Mr Lincoln in his stroller, they didn’t even acknowledge us standing only a few feet away.

That asshole didn’t call them off or yell to them to come back into their yard.  

I honestly don’t know what would have happened if Big Duck Dynasty Dogs had decided to attack. 

I looked at that piece of crap standing in his driveway, hands on his hips with an overly exaggerated smug look on his face sending us his non-verbal message of…GET OFF MY STREET!

I thought to myself…..you’re one of the creeps who’s crawled out from under the rocks.  

I struggled with the fight inside of me and words that were crawling up out of my throat and eager to jump out at that jackass.

Once FOR SURE, there would have been a verbal confrontation and I would have made the point that he didn’t OWN the street, and then we would have walked that cul-d-sac every morning just to prove my point.

I may have even reported him to the local police department.

But why?

What would I be trying to accomplish other than lighting that jerks fire even more.

Maybe that’s what bullies do for breakfast…..go out on their driveways and try to scare happy people away?

And the big dogs?

Is that like the same need that type of jerk has for a big truck? (and he had one in his driveway!)

Their prized anatomy measurement falls short so, big dog, big truck? 

(I’m jes teasin’ all you big dog, big truck owners!!!)

It’s those times I remember words of my daughter, “it must suck to be them,” and I realize that he’s his own misery.

That type of BULLY used to be kinda rare to run into but now?…..pick up a newspaper, turn on the TV, watch it on your computer…..it’s a daily thing. 

Hatred, Anger, Intimidation, Harassment, Beatings, Murders…..it’s all there for your viewing pleasure.

We won’t go down that cul-d-sac again because we don’t need to. 

There’s other streets with people who smile and wave to us in the morning as we walk by.

I haven’t carried pepper spray with me since we used to walk the trails in Monterey where mountain lions were sometimes spotted.

But, I dug out my trusty little canister and it’ll accompany us on our walks from now on and if we ever run into that Jackass again, it’s not the dogs that I’ll aim the nozzle at!!!!!