And then…

Fergus came to stay with Penny and I last week while his people were on vacation.  She and I had big plans to show him a good time – we were going to keep him too busy to miss anyone.  (Fergus has become Penny’s best friend – she was excited to have him for a sleepover).  We had the best time – starting on day two of the sleepover – day one was another story….

First we treated him to a spa date (turns out spa dates aren’t Fergus’ favorite).  After being bathed and rinsed in a delightful concoction of coconut shampoo and conditioner we headed outdoors to dry in the sunshine. The dogs were still wafting the aroma of a Hawaiian holiday when I decided to take them for a walk (walking dogs is my forte – I pride myself in being a dog walker extraordinaire).

I should note that Penny is still in boot camp – her meet and greet skills are improving but she can’t be trusted not to lose her cool when she sees another dog.  Fergus, on the other hand, is more a ride-in-a-wagon kinda guy – he poops out quickly so he doesn’t take very many walks.  In retrospect I should have considered these points before marching out of the yard like a cocky dog trainer person – but you know what they say about hindsight.

Once we established who was walking on what side of the dog walker we moseyed toward the gravel path that runs on the other side of the creek behind our house.  The dogs were very compliant and in sync for starters – I pulled out my phone/camera to document the moment.  I was happily photographing my two well behaved subjects when I noticed a woman and her dog walking toward us.

Penny and I have crossed paths with this woman and her gentle spaniel on a couple of occasions and she has always been lovely and patient and sympathetic while I sorted out the less than lovely feral Boston at the end of my leash.  She appeared happy to be crossing paths with us again and smiled at my two model smoosh-faces. 

And then…

Penny lost her ever-loving mind.  The woman and her gentle spaniel waited as I attempted to wrestle Penny off the path and into the weeds while trying to stuff my phone/camera back into my pocket so I could get a grip on the yipping, snarling, snapping fiend standing on her hind legs at the end of her tether.  

And then…

Just as I’d managed to haul the frothing Boston within grabbing range Penny tagged Fergus.

Where Penny is a whirling dervish when she loses her shit Fergus is more of a Tasmanian Devil – he lunges and snarls and snorts and makes noises not generally associated with canines – he may be small but he is fierce (and frightening).

I found myself in the middle of a gong show.  The lovely woman and her gentle spaniel found themselves in the middle of a tag team event.  All hell broke loose. 

I tried to apologize above the racket and between juggling reprimands. Everything felt like it was going in slow motion – the lunging dogs, the noise, me – I couldn’t get a handle on the mayhem.  I caught a glimpse of the woman’s terrified face as she hustled past the circus (she was moving in fast-forward).  I yelled “I’m sorry!” once more before she sped out of sight.  She gave us a dismissive wave over her shoulder without looking back. 

And then…   

I vowed never to walk those two monsters together again.  

(We were very fortunate the lovely woman is in fact lovely and her spaniel is truly gentle.  We were also very fortunate Animal Control didn’t show up).

Thankfully day two was a different story…