![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
One problem with living right by a shopping centre with three big supermarkets is the food. Two of the three have rotisserie counters where you can walk out with hot fresh-cooked chicken, sausages and pies. All three have a huge selection of things people can just pick up and eat while they're walking.
Which means that, since I seem to be the only person in town who doesn't think a garbage bin is just there for decoration, I can't walk anywhere round here, and especially not between here and Grimmauld Place, without there being food all over the fucking pavement. Squish and Spike nearly always find it before I do, because I am not keeping my eye on the ground - I'm too busy watching out for the free-range cat population, the squirrels, the strange dogs and the urban foxes, because I can get pulled over if I don't see those in time to brace myself.
On the one hand, it means the dogs get a lot of practise at "leave it!" and I get an awful lot of practise at grabbing things out of their mouths when they find the food first. On the other hand, it also means they get a lot of practise at swallowing things real fast before I can get the chance to do either. I wish people would just fucking pick up after themselves.
- this rant was brought to you today by six chicken bones and the tail-end of a baguette.
In other dog news, would you believe me if I told you Spike was acting as a stooge for a dog-aggressive dog? I wouldn't either, but he is. Directly Underneath Me Neighbour adopted an adorable Jack Russell bitch at about the same time as Downstairs Neighbour Couple adopted Yellow-Dog Buster, the miniature Dingo. We often meet him on our walks and Spike and Squish are great friends with his first JRT - however, New Bitch goes into a screaming canicidal rage at the sight of other dogs, even from across the road.
The great thing about this is that Spike doesn't. He likes terriers and he loves bitches and he doesn't care that she clearly wants nothing more than to rip his kidneys out and wear them on her collar. So we do the thing where we retreat just far enough for her to stop screeching, and I get them to look at me while D.U. Neighbour praises her for being quiet and reduces the distance a little each time. None of this is prearranged - we just tend to take walks at the same time. Dog synergy, or something.
Which means that, since I seem to be the only person in town who doesn't think a garbage bin is just there for decoration, I can't walk anywhere round here, and especially not between here and Grimmauld Place, without there being food all over the fucking pavement. Squish and Spike nearly always find it before I do, because I am not keeping my eye on the ground - I'm too busy watching out for the free-range cat population, the squirrels, the strange dogs and the urban foxes, because I can get pulled over if I don't see those in time to brace myself.
On the one hand, it means the dogs get a lot of practise at "leave it!" and I get an awful lot of practise at grabbing things out of their mouths when they find the food first. On the other hand, it also means they get a lot of practise at swallowing things real fast before I can get the chance to do either. I wish people would just fucking pick up after themselves.
- this rant was brought to you today by six chicken bones and the tail-end of a baguette.
In other dog news, would you believe me if I told you Spike was acting as a stooge for a dog-aggressive dog? I wouldn't either, but he is. Directly Underneath Me Neighbour adopted an adorable Jack Russell bitch at about the same time as Downstairs Neighbour Couple adopted Yellow-Dog Buster, the miniature Dingo. We often meet him on our walks and Spike and Squish are great friends with his first JRT - however, New Bitch goes into a screaming canicidal rage at the sight of other dogs, even from across the road.
The great thing about this is that Spike doesn't. He likes terriers and he loves bitches and he doesn't care that she clearly wants nothing more than to rip his kidneys out and wear them on her collar. So we do the thing where we retreat just far enough for her to stop screeching, and I get them to look at me while D.U. Neighbour praises her for being quiet and reduces the distance a little each time. None of this is prearranged - we just tend to take walks at the same time. Dog synergy, or something.
Tags: