I was SCOOPED up....

I lost all my Airedale dignity today....

We had some rain early in the morning, and then it was cold and overcasting for the rest of the day. Mum didn't feel like freezing her butt off at the beach, so we had a fairly diplomatic discussion about where to go for my afternoon walk. Mum suggested to drive me somewhere new and do a long leash walk around the area. I, being the cooperative dogter, agreed to her suggestion. You all might think how nice of a mum I have, but I hate to tell you this, you are all wrong - she did this for herself!

You see, the reason why mum suggested to leash walk me in an unfamiliar place is because she hates to walk me around my neighbourhood. Why? Well because I know my neighbourhood very well, so I like to go to places that I want to go. This means when we're out on our walk, I'll walk if I think mum is going in the direction that I want to go. If she isn't, then I'll stop dead on the leash, and wait 'til mum walks in MY direction. This works on my mum because I know mum doesn't pull or jerk my leash to force me to move. So everytime mum takes me out for a walk around the neighbourhood, it always ends up being at least a 90 min walk!

Oh, and the route usually goes something like HOME -- SCHOOL 1 -- PET STORE(to watch guinea pigs) -- SCHOOL 2 -- SOCCER FIELD -- PET FOOD STORE -- MUM BEGS AND PLEADS -- HOME. Now, this doesn't happen in an unfamiliar place because the smells, the houses, the area, everything is new to me. So I will happily follow mum whichever way she wants to go.

Ok, back to my story,

Mum and I drove to this new neighbourhood and started our walk. Everything was fine at first, met a few dogs on leash, said hi, and moved on. Then we turned a corner and saw a woman a little ways (~30 ft) up the sidewalk with her dog walking in the same direction that we were. Neither mum nor I thought much about it until we got a bit closer to them and realized the woman was struggling to keep her Pitbull X Rottweiler moving. The dog kept turning around, trying to pull towards us, snarling at the same time. As soon as mum saw this, she decided to cross the road.

I am usually fine with dogs on leash as long as they are not showing signs of aggression. Unfortunately, if I sense that you don't like me, I will gladly return a few words to let you know that I don't like you either. Mum doesn't like this behavior because she wants me to be a polite girl, so she usually tells me a firm "LEAVE HIM" before I have the chance to exchange words with the other party. I respect what mum wants out of me, so I usually just cock my tail way up in the air, walk proudly pass the other party (while doing some heavy exhales as I pass), but I keep my mouth shut and not a word of rudeness comes out.

Back to the story,

Mum told me to "LEAVE HIM!" (which turned out to be a her) and proceeded to crossing the road. As soon as we stepped off the curb, we heard the woman yell "Ally NO!" The next thing I knew, mum was screaming "NOOOO" and I was up in the air, swearing and cursing in mum's arms...

Ally, the dog, had pulled so hard that her owner couldn't hang on to her and she came after me. There was no hesitation from her whatsoever. Her eyes were fixed on me, and me only. She snarled aggressively with her teeth all bared and ready to kill. Mum didn't know what to do, so she just SCOOPED all 63 lbs of me up as if I were a piece of feather or something. Ally came really close as mum was lifting me up, and she ended up taking a chomp on mum's leg. Thank doG mum was wearing her baggy sweat pants, so other than a bruised calf and a ripped pant leg, she's ok. The owner eventually caught up to Ally and got a hold of her.

The owner was in tears. She said this had never happened before in the 1.5 yrs she's had Ally since she was adopted from the SPCA (I don't know if I believe this). Because Ally's owner was very apologetic and obviously in shock, mum decided to cut her some slacks and walked on. Mum did tell the owner that she needed to muzzle, and get control of Ally if Ally was gonna go after other dogs like that.

We continued with our walk, but I could still sense the shock and anxiety in mum so I decided to warn the next few dogs we met to stay away from us.... However, mum was much better toward the end of our walk, so I let my guard down and politely said "hi" to the few other dogs we met before heading home. Mum and I are very in sync with each other, so we are able to read each other to the tee!

MY THOUGHTS:

I don't know why my crazy mum decided to SCOOP me up because "I" really do think I could have won the fight if there was one!! I'm an AIREDALE - KING OF THE TERRORS - RULER OF THE WORLD! We Airedales, are normally happy- comical creatures, but should you decide to piss us off, doesn't matter what size or what strength you have, we will NOT back down until we die (literally).

(The above statements were taken directly from the mind of one particular Airedale, does not necessarily represent others of the same breed.....)

I have to admit though, I am very surprised and impressed that mum was able to SCOOP me up just like that and actually hold on to me while I was struggling my hardest to get down to protect her from Ally. It's amazing what adrenaline can do for ya!!

I guess this story can just make the list of "What Makes a Good Doggie Friend"??