Passing the Sniff Test

This is the continuation of the story about the other Thursday when I hitched a ride with a friend from high school. As I mentioned, we were going out to dinner with other batchmates. We passed by their house to drop off her son. She warned me that they had a lot of dogs at home. "No worries," I said, remembering that we once had a pair of Japanese Spitz (we named Spic and Span) at home when we were children.

When we got to their place, I asked her eleven-year old son if my stockings were at risk.

"Nah," he said confidently.

Of course I wasn't quite sure whether he understood my question but I took his answer in good faith and got down from the vehicle.

As soon as I got off their AUV, one of the dogs ran up and pounced on me. He placed his front paws smack on both my legs, and proceeded to give me the usual scratching and rubbing dogs like to do when they want to be caressed. (By sheer luck [note the choice of words], my stockings survived.) I rubbed his head and let him lick my hand. He was very nice and friendly.

The other dogs came up and greeted me as well.

My friend and her husband were astounded. He said that it was very unusual for their dogs not to bark at a stranger. In fact, he could not recall a time when a visitor was greeted this warmly by their dogs. My friend actually complained that the dogs had greeted me ahead of her.

Well, it was a short-lived victory of deception because eventually another dog emerged from the house. It was a small Japanese Spitz. It gave me a funny look then started to bark. ("Hey, I don't know you! Bark! Bark! BARK!")

When the others heard the barking, they started to bark as well. Of course this did not stop some of them from coming up and getting their heads rubbed in between barks.

Eventually things quieted down and the dogs let me walk in their midst without much ado.

(I have yet to figure out how to get the children introduced to animals. Since we don't have pets in the house, both RD and MyGirl are visibly scared of dogs. They hide behind me as soon as they spot a dog. Ironically, MacGyver grew up with dogs in their home and is very comfortable with canines. One day, I hope the children muster up the courage to pet a dog and discover why they are known as man's best friend. Who knows, they might end up having as many dogs as my friend has. I think she had about a dozen dogs of varying breeds.)