As I mentioned a few posts ago, I am trying oh so hard to lose a couple (or 5 or 10) pounds. These attempts usually involve lots of exercise and time at the gym, and this time is no different. But, I'm already tired of the same old thing so Sunday night, I decided to go for a walk. As with most of my ideas, there was something wrong. This time, it was that I was going for a walk at about 8:30. Being a bit skittish about walking in the near dark and the obvious likelyhood of being kidnapped and all, I decided to take Sophie - my most fierce looking pet.
Of course, fierce in this case is relative. But, she is a pit bull mix, so she's a lot more menacing looking than Harvey the fluff ball. So, I had the dog, the iPod (which I stole from Blake who is still quite under the spell of his iPhone so he didn't notice), and a watch so that I could make sure that I didn't exercise one minute longer than I had to.
About 30 seconds into Fix You (which, by the way, just kills me), Sophie spotted the first of about 30 woodland creatures that was apparently trying to commit suicide. First, it was a single brown bunny. Sophie's ears perked up, she threw her considerable low slung weight against the leash and off we went. Now, my girl Sophie usually has a beatific look of sweet stupidity on her face, but at this point, it was all murderous intent. Not one to bark, she peeled her lips back and flashed her not unimpressive teeth at the poor little rabbit.
Thanks to the fact that I regularly tote around a 25 pound two year old, my guns (OK, somewhat toned arms) were strong enough to hold her back, but just. She stopped throwing herself against the leash and she turned to look at me. I think in that instant I saw a flash of disdain, maybe a bit of irritation at my squeamishness in the face of something so ordinary for her. I can't be sure, but I think she was judging me just a little.
So, the walk resumed and about two seconds after the first bunny encounter, I noticed Sophie perking up again. Since I have famously terrible eyesight, it took me a couple of seconds to see that there were THREE bunnies just sitting in the grass alongside the road. Expecting Sophie to throw herself against the leash, I braced for the pull, but this time something strange happened. I saw her dig in with her front paws, but then noticed that she just glanced at me, flipped her head forward and pranced on as if she hadn't seen three delicious bunny steaks just waiting for her.
This went on for the rest of the walk. She would notice a bunny or a cat, prepare to go after it, pause and then decide to pass it by. We walked for a total of about thirty minutes and I would estimate that she turned down at least ten bunnies, 3 cats and maybe two yippy little dog/rat thingys. Plus, given that she can snag birds out of the air, maybe a couple of those too. I can only conclude that Soph had decided to spare me the gore that she so obviously craved. I can't tell you how I appreciated that concession on her part. Starting now, I will no longer think of Sophie as a quietly stupid dog. She's a stone cold killer and she is just humoring me, for now...
Sophie sees all with her evil eye...
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