Tuesday, May 22, 2012

A Big Splash

When I walk Tommy down my street, the neighborhood kids run up screaming, “Can I pet your dog?!”

If I’m not in a hurry, I acquiesce, but only after I have Tommy in a sit-stay with my foot on his leash (added protection against him jumping up), his attention glued to me as I shower him with treats.

When I give the kids the okay to pet him, they descend on him, petting and patting the poor pooch.
Photo taken a couple of years ago in a Burbank park.
Note I should be stepping on Tommy's leash.
Tommy’s a real trooper, but one time a kid was too rough, and Tommy jerked his snout into the kid’s face. The kid threw his hands over his nose.

I was horrified. Had Tommy bit him?! The kid stared at me wide-eyed, his hands still covering his nose. Was he about to burst out crying or was he just stunned by Tommy’s sloppy exuberance?

The kid was fine (phew!), but it was a scary reminder how important it is for me to manage Tommy out in public. Unfortunately this slipped my mind when I brought Tommy to Pasadena Litfest a couple of weekends ago.


Tommy made a big splash. We ran into the fabulous Petrea Burchard of Pasadena Daily Photo. She's got a soft spot for Tommy and took the above photo of him.

Women cooed over his good looks at the Crepe 'n Around food truck. The Pasadena Humane Society adoption coordinator admired his exemplary behavior.

One bookish dog lover stopped to tell us all about her pittie mix. As I made polite small talk, I noticed a middle-aged hipster in a shiny shirt and striped pants walking in our direction with a huge smile on his face. He had a bit of the crazy about him. Was he smiling at me? Was he headed toward us? I smelled trouble.

"I love your dog," he said and knelt down to Tommy's level to give him some love. I got a whiff of alcohol. Tommy didn't mind. He slobbered all over his face. I tried to hold Tommy back. The guy said, "I don't mind. It's okay." But then Tommy's kiss turned into a love bite, right on the guy's face. Yikes!

The hipster stood up. I apologized. He laughed it off but as he walked away he said, "I'm going to sue you if you don't buy one of my books."

I laughed and contemplated following him to check out his book. Then I came to my senses: Tommy and I hightailed it in the other direction.

34 comments:

  1. I understand. Phoebe spoiled me. She was the Dalai Lama of dogs -- A friend to all living creatures. Sometimes I forget I'm not walking a Tibetan monk, I'm walking Albert.

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  2. You don't want to say to people, keep away, he's aggressive, but some folks are very insensitive when they approach dogs too freely. I am a bit more wary now after an incident with a homeless woman sitting on the sidewalk with her lovely lab. I stroked the lab and it was very friendly, then suddenly it lunged at my face. Shock all round, and the girl said it had never happened before. Karin, love the idea of albert as a Tibetan monk!

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  3. Scary. The opposite direction was a good one.

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  4. Kids can intimidate me as well!lol... Your baby was just acting out of instinct.. the kids got in his 'space' as they say.... you have a gorgeous dog... I've never come across a dog that has nipped me.. I guess they can sense my calm?

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  5. Hiker, I love how you characterize Phoebe - a Tibetan monk. What a gift to have shared your life with such an evolved soul. Seriously.

    Bellis, that's a scary anecdote! My trainer used to say I needed to be firm with people and say that Tommy is in training and no, in fact you can't pet him. I need to practice that.

    Jean, I think so too.

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  6. Kalei's BF, calmness is a very good thing around Tommy! I'm not sure I would call his behavior nipping, and I definitely wouldn't call it aggressive. More an abundance of exuberance? I don't know. I could write a chapter analyzing Tommy's behavioral issues. Maybe even a whole book.

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  7. Now your thinking! Your not the first dog owner I've met who had to make a hasty retreat. Hey, you apologized, right?

    Bellis, I recall that line said to me by a startled Rottwieler owner whose dog lunged at my midsection - and again by someone in the Arroyo whose large dog showed aggression towards me. In both cases, I was recovering from a broken ankle and was using a cane. Beware of canes. They can have a negative effect on the rescues (for obvious reasons)

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  8. Oh I hated interactions with the drunk crazies when we lived in LA

    Stop on by for a visit
    Kari
    http://dogisgodinreverse.com

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  9. Tommy is just so handsome that I can't believe he could ever take a bad picture.

    To be fair, lots of dogs nip when someone invades their space at the wrong time and sometimes we have to learn this the hard way. The guy who got the love bite, I hope he learned his lesson - but he prolly didn't.

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  10. People need to be smarter. Why would anyone do what that guy did. I blame stupid people.

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  11. Margaret's right, stupid people are to blame! One should always ask, "May I pet your dog?" or something like that, then take the slow approach as opposed to the sloppy drunk approach.

    Paula is also right, a bad picture of Tommy cannot be taken. He's a looker. Don't tell Boz (not a monk, just Eeyore) I said so.

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  12. Being a parent to a PIT is a chore and unpredictable.

    When I read your blog I am pawning for the next paragraph. I love your suspense in telling the tales of walking Tommy Boy. I have to admit that I too, have a mad crush on Tommy. He is so cute and I love his face. You know he chose you to be his mommy.

    Love you and your lambs til the cows come home!

    Kris

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  13. Poor Tommy! I think it's rude {and stupid!} for adults to assume it's ok for them to pat dogs without checking first. {And the sloppy drunk approach is great for neither humans nor animals!} I'm glad you did a runner.

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  14. PA, I certainly did apologize. Thank the goddess there was no blood. (I'm glad you survived both your dog incidents unscathed.)

    Kari, I bet there were quite a few drunk crazies in WeHo.

    Paula, Petrea has never taken a bad photo of Tommy but I have. I agree he is quite the looker. I also agree that guy prolly didn't learn his lesson.

    Margaret, thank you for being in my corner.

    You too, Petrea, although I really need to be more assertive, especially with sloppy drunks! (Don't worry, I won't tell, as long as you don't tell Tommy I have a crush on Boz.)

    Kristen, having a pittie is a BIG responsibility and definitely a chore, but I don't think it's unpredictable. In retrospect, any incident I've had with Tommy I could've predicted. I just need to be more on the ball with him.

    I just kissed Tommy on his big pointy head and told him everyone has a crush on him. Like a true heart throb, he was nonchalant.

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  15. I can imagine your fear that if Tommy nips at someone and they want to make a big stink....oh dear....you know how that can go. Tommy was just protecting his mommy from the weird Mr. Alcohol-Breath-Writer-Guy. Glad you high-tailed it. No need to push your luck!

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  16. Shell, next time I'll run before the sloppy drunk slobbers all over Tommy.

    Liz, I shudder to think how that can go! I'm glad I hightailed it too, although I have to confess I have a morbid curiosity about his book. I wonder if I can figure out who he is from the Litfest website. Hmmm... on second thought, probably best to let him remain a mystery.

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    1. You know, Sue, when I was first reading about alcohol-breath guy approaching you and Tommy with a grin, I was thinking you were going to write about finding a romantic interest....but, alas, Tommy stepped in and gave you the sign that this was NOT the guy for you...I hope you are not feeling guilty for not buying his book or are you really just curious to see is you missed out? Anyway, with some research, you may be able to figure it out!

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  17. I met a lot of people there because I was a volunteer at the festival. Maybe I can help you figure out who he was if you find his picture.

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  18. Petrea, thank you for the offer. I looked but didn't find his picture, which is just as well.

    Liz, I'm happy to say this guy did not make it into the annals of "I sure no how to pick 'em" with many of my past romantic interests. No, no guilt about not buying his book. I'm glad I turned in the other direction and this guy is a fading memory.

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  19. I love that the girl in the photo is barefoot.

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  20. That's a sweet touch, isn't it, Ann?

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  21. When people said to me, "May I pet your dog?", I said, "Sorry, but Flora don't like that strange people pet her..." As you know, Flora was a little dog, but she was shy with people that she don't know well. I had on my fence a warning "Careful, anti-social dog". LOL! I miss my dear Flora so much...

    Have a good week ahead.
    Kisses to you and to Tommy too!

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  22. You were a good human to your Flora, Sonia, protecting her from the stress of meeting strange people. Sweet Flora was a lucky dog.

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  23. I had a contractor (who I really like) walk into the house without knocking and being greeted, Daisy went right up to him and *sorta* nipped excitedly, he said "good thing I am wearing pants or she would have bit me", I said "you walked in the door without knocking, thats what she is supposed to do". He always knocks now.

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  24. daisydog, what a great comeback! That'll teach him.

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  25. Thank you Susan, for so kind words!

    Thanks also for your nice comments on my blog. I always love your visit!

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  26. Tommy is a good boy!!! I took Kelly to the Mammoth "Kidapalooza" to help me at the booth for our new CASA program we're trying to get started up here (Court Appointed Special Advocates). She was a hit!!! Even though she's pretty mildly tempered and tolerant of tugs and pulls, she picked up a stick that a kid had and started chewing on it...the little kid started reaching for her head, and I intervened..."don't get close when she's chewing on something"...

    When I was in high school, we had a beagle mixed dog named Elmer...he was eating his dinner in the kitchen when the little toddler from across the street reached down to pet him...Elmer turned and snapped, and caught the little boys face...Elmer was quarantined and of course turned out not to be rabid. The family was gracious and understood...I believe the mom was there when it happened...and we all learned a very important lesson...don't ever touch a dog when it is eating or chewing on something...they can be protective of their food...Elmer was a good dog, without a mean bone in his body...but our dogs are animals, not furry people...it's important to remember that. BTW...the little boy was fine, just a scratch...

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  27. Sonia, it's my pleasure to visit your blog. And I'm always delighted to see you here.

    Chieftess, the Elmer anecdote is an excellent cautionary tale. I'm glad it had a happy ending. That's wonderful you're starting a CASA program (I googled it to get more info). You're a good soul. And so is Kelly!

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  28. Nice stories this week. Keep em coming :)

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    1. Thanks, Deirdre, belatedly. Hope you enjoyed your weekend by the pool.

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  29. last week, i was at work. a very dog friendly office on wislshire. We have desks out in the 'bullpen' in the space that has scores of desks in a 'bullpen' with everyone working for different companies -- it's rather odd. anyway, i had Precious with me. She's a therapy dog and great with people. I was in an intense conversation with my Producer when i suddenly heard a small child SCREAM! I whipped around to find Precious had wandered into someone's office, not 10 feet away, where the man's children were hanging out. Apparently, Precious had walked in, excited to find some children, and surprised the smallest of the 2. I was MORT-FIED !!!! Luckily, the father was cool and made the daughter calm down, and brought her back out to officially meet Precious. I don't think he wanted to have a child who was scared of dogs. He handled it very well. I'm still mortified. Precious is a beagle-mix - max 30 lbs. It doesn't matter the breed, age, size or training.
    i guess my point is, if you are overly sensitive to Tommy's breed, then others will be too. I'm not saying to let him run rampant. YOu wouldn't anyway :)
    but just remember that all dogs can cause a perceived negative reaction in unknown people/children !
    Keep up the good work - you know i hold Tommy dear to my heart -- he's a great ambassador to the breed :)

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    1. that was written by Jen Byrne by the way - i have no idea why it gave me a random name LOL!

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  30. Jen, I knew it was you! Wasn't Precious Tommy's first girlfriend? The first of many but you always remember the first. And you were Tommy's first big fan. Thanks for dropping by and sharing that story. It must've been freaky to hear that kid scream.

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