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Mon | May 22, 2006

dogs revisited

While driving through Summit last Friday, I saw a grey spotted greyhound who reminded me of Chase, the greyhound I have dogsitted twice. I suddenly remembered that not all dogs are barking maniacs.

Chase, for example, is the most mellow, low-key dog I have ever seen. His appearance --large and muscular, with a wild coat of brown with black stripes-- belies his temperament. He's a former racedog so you might think he'd be one of those dogs that tows its owner along because they want to go faster. But he goes as fast or slow as I am going, and he never argues. He is my kind of dog.

Yesterday as I was leaving Carol and Alle's apartment, I saw a woman with a cocker spaniel. I petted its soft, glossy fur and thought about how you are allowed to pet people's dogs but not their kids. If it were socially acceptable to pet and hug and kiss people's kids, I would do so all the time. But I guess as long I can't, I have to take dogs as something of a consolation prize.

And on Saturday as I walked home from train station, I saw the closest thing to a hipster I have ever seen in these parts. He was walking two white dogs, the small kind whose energy and movement remind me of toddlers. "What kind of dogs are those?" I might have asked. Dogs are conversation starters, and in an alienated society, any little way out helps.

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