So I was doing a foot patrol the other day when I notice dog paw prints in the snow (a reluctant welcome to the Pennsylvania Winter, BTW). I looked up when I heard a man barking orders to the owner of the paw prints. They were on the return trip from the dog’s walk it seemed. A big brown pitbull was marching just beside the man.
The owner said, “Rio…heel! Stay…don’t move!”
The dog seemed to be very calm and just kept looking at his owner like he was crazy for yelling. That was…until I got within twenty feet of the duo. The dog began to shake, not from the cold, but presumably from excitement. The man started barking even more orders at the dog, which just made it shake even more.
Just as I was about to pass them the dog leaps forward, between his owner and myself. Puts his nose about and inch from my thigh and gives me this, ferocious, blood-thirsty look:
Oh God! The horror!!
That’s when the man yelled one more thing, “No, Rio! Not everyone loves you!”
The dog stared at me so I reached out and scratched behind his ears (he was big enoguh I didn’t have to bend over to do this). He excitedly jammed his face into my leg as I petted him and then gave me a forlorn look as his owner walked past and barked for him to come along.
Loves a strong word…but I certainly liked Rio, he was a cute puppy. I only wish I’d had a ball to toss for him to see him romp in the snow.
~RCS
One more cute puppy picture, just for no reason:
The father might have some questions about this litter.
Tsk! Tsk! Dick, you just rewarded a dog for bad bahavior. Disobeying its owner. Somehow I don’t blame the dog for ignoring its owner. If he’s yelling like that then he needs some serious puppy (owner) training. Dogs are great. They teach us so much. From what you wrote, it could have turned out so differently. You definitely led me astray too with that cheeky/misleading title.
Rio was cute, there was no way a sweet pooch like him didn’t earn a scratch behind the ears on cuteness, alone.