The Way We Protect Each Other

Oh boy, oh boy! It’s my turn. Mom is finally taking me for a walk. I know that she takes me every morning, but it feels like ages since I checked on things around the neighborhood. I love being home; it’s my favorite place, but I like to get out and check on things. My tail wags and hits the wall, and then my whole body wags. I wish I could control this, but I have never been able to. My whole fifty-pound body gets worked up.

My mom and my boy call me Lacey. Mom says I’m a mutt, but I always get compliments on my rich brown fur and chocolate eyes. When I first met them, I was skinny. Now, the dog next door, Archie, calls me robust. I don’t care what he thinks because I know I am still very pretty and he’s rounder than me.

My first family abandoned me in an apartment. They just left me there. I couldn’t escape. There was no food. It was an awful place. Then, these scary men came in and took me away from that place. But they put me in a cage. They took me out three times a day and fed me. There were so many other dogs there in cages, too. The other dogs were always complaining, very loudly, about how much they hated being in the cages, but these people never listened. I didn’t like this place either.

One day, a boy came to visit me, and a man took me outside to meet him. I was so afraid of the boy. He seemed nice, and he didn’t do anything wrong, but I didn’t want to get too close. He would either abandon me or put me in a cage. That’s what all these other humans seemed to want to do. But this boy stayed for a long time. He smelled so good. Like hamburgers. In time, I wandered over to him to get a good sniff. He was patient with me, but I wasn’t ready to let him touch me. At the time, I thought I probably wasn’t going to see this boy again anyway. But he surprised me and visited me the next day. I still took my time, though. This time, he smelled like pancakes and maple syrup. It made my stomach rumble even though I had a full breakfast of kibble. I let him pet me this time. I’m glad I did. He took me home and became my boy. My most important job was to make sure he was safe.

Mom made it clear that she was alpha, and I had to do what she said. I didn’t like making her shout at me, so I tried to be good all the time. That was about ten years ago. Now, goody gumdrops, she’s taking me on the long walk. We always stop at the tree at the end of the driveway. I need to check out who has been coming to the house. Good grief, I smell two new dogs, and the usual eight have also come to visit. Ugh, this is the place I pee the most, so they know whose house this is. I don’t know why these other dogs feel the need to mark my house. I don’t know why Mom doesn’t yell at them. She has to know that they are coming by. But it’s up to me to make sure they know it’s our house.

We cross the street to start our circle around the block. The lady who lives here has treats outside her fence for dogs. Mom never lets me have one. She tells me that they will make me sick. I don’t think she understands that I don’t care. She’s going to take care of me anyway, getting that treat would be worth the day of fresh chicken and rice she will make.

Mom takes care of me, but she is very distracted lately. Although it is her own fault. A couple of months ago, she brought home a puppy. I don’t know what she was thinking! We had a good thing at home. Quiet, lazy days. I always got my treats on time and got to go for the first walk every morning. Now we have Ralphie. Ugh, he’s so annoying. I stayed away from him in the beginning. He’s so troublesome, and Mom screams at him all the time. So does my boy. Ralphie makes things difficult, and we can’t settle as we used to, even at night. Since I’ve gotten to know this puppy though, I've started to like him a little bit. I feel like I need to take care of him and teach him how to make Mom stop yelling. He’s not getting it yet, but I’ll keep trying. I love making him chase me around the backyard, and he shares his toys with me even though I don’t play with them. He’s really goofy and clumsy. But he comes first now. It’s not fair. Mom doesn’t shout at me anymore, so I decided to make her scream at me again. I went potty in the house. I know I’m not supposed to, but it got her to pay attention to me again. But then she started to cry. I don’t like it when Mom cries. I just sit next to her until she is ready to pet me because I know that will help her. But when she is sad, I am sad too. I don’t like to be sad. So I didn’t potty in the house again. She’s giving me more attention now as Ralphie calms down. As much as I hated him at first, I like having a brother. It’s really cool to have a buddy to nap with on the couch.

The next house on the street smells like flowers. I know a German Shepard called Rosie lives here, and her mom is so nice. My mom always smiles and says “good morning” when we see them. I don’t mark Rosie’s yard. I like her and respect her.

We walk down a few more houses, and I detect an interesting smell. Hmm… What could this be? It takes me a few minutes to realize that a bunny must have recently come through here. I wonder where he is now? I can’t see as well as I used to, but I look around anyway. Nothing darts around in my vision. I used to love chasing the bunnies, but Mom never liked that. I’m going to mark this spot so that other dogs don’t get distracted when they walk by.

Mom and I start to walk up the hill. There is a car turned on next to the sidewalk. I can’t see if anyone is in it. But the exhaust is gross. I pull Mom up the hill away from it. Then we get to Sally’s house. Sally is a little tan dog. She is young and still learning. She wears this really embarrassing vest. I’m so glad Mom never made me wear that. I don’t know how Sally breathes in that thing. Her dad walks her every morning. Mom is friendly with Sally’s dad. They always chat for a minute or two while Sally and I sniff each other. Sally does a good job of safeguarding her yard. There are rarely other dogs marking her yard. When I ask her how she does this, she backs away from me. I didn’t realize this was a huge secret. I’m just trying to guard my house the way she defends hers. She pulls her dad away and never tells me the secret.

Hmm… I need to think about this. There must be a way. Maybe I need to mark more territory besides just the tree at the end of the driveway. I know whenever a man comes near the door, I do my job and tell him to go away. It’s good that these people listen to me, but they keep coming back. There must be a way to keep them away forever. I’m so distracted with my thoughts that I realize we are about to turn the corner.

This part of the neighborhood is Rocky’s. He’s a husky. Sometimes he follows us down the sidewalk. He makes Mom walk faster. She chokes up on the leash and makes me heel. So boring. I like to wander on my own. There isn’t much to smell on this block except Rocky. I don’t know how he established this whole section. He doesn’t say much at all. He just escorts us away from his part of the neighborhood. He’s not mean, just territorial. I don’t think he gets much attention from his humans. I can’t even tell which house is his.

When we turn the next corner, we get a big view of the sky. Mom always slows down here. I’m so glad she smells the glorious scents from this yard. This section is home to trash and rotten food. I like how she lingers here. There is a man standing on the sidewalk, leaning against a fence. He’s there every morning. He smells like mold. He’s never friendly and ignores us as we pass him, but I make sure that I get us as far from him as possible. That moldy stink is all wrong.

Then, we get to the part of the street I love. All the dogs of the neighborhood leave their scent in this section. If I come across a scent that I don’t like, I mark it as mine. One time, I found a dead mouse in some bushes near the street. No matter how many times I marked it, I could still smell it rotting into the earth. After a few weeks, it was gone. Probably, someone like Rocky ate it.

We pass by Frank’s house. I know this is where Frank lives, but I’ve never seen him. He must see me because he always says hello. He hangs out in his backyard. He tells me he has his own little house back there. He also comments on how pretty I am. I guess being outside is a good way to guard the house, but I like it better inside. Nine times out of ten, I poop in Frank’s yard. This is the spot in the neighborhood with the best grass, but Mom doesn’t let us stay long. She tells me why, but all I hear is grass. Grass is weird. I like it when it’s cool and wet in the summer, but in the winter, it smells putrid and is too dry to eat. It smells so fresh in the spring. That’s when it tastes the best, but Mom won’t let me eat it. She says something about a cow, but I just ignore that because she thinks I can understand her. It would be better if she would just learn to bark.

A few houses down from Frank’s live these two dogs who howl at all the other dogs as they pass by their house. I feel kind of bad for these guys. I’ve never seen them outside. You can hear their mom roaring at them a lot. Even though I feel bad for them, they are mean. They tell me to get away, and they tell me that I am not pretty. Deep inside, I know they are just frustrated with their situation and not mad at me. But it still puts my hackles up when we pass by.

As we turn the last corner, we come to Archie’s house. I have to admit, I hated Archie when I first met him. He snarled at Mom and me whenever we were in the backyard. I thought one day he would come through the fence; he was so angry. But Archie has calmed down. We say hi now, and he’s not so snarly anymore. Archie must still be asleep, because he doesn’t like other dogs passing by his house and tells them so. This morning is quiet in Archie’s yard. He is lucky. He has one of those swinging doors so he can go outside whenever he wants. I wish Mom would do that for Ralphie and me.

Darn it! I have no urine left to mark my yard. Ugh. One of these days, I have to remember to hold some for the end. I think this might be Sally’s secret. I never smell her anywhere else in the neighborhood. I’m going to try to do that tomorrow.

When we get home, my mom makes me breakfast. Since I have been losing teeth, she has been trying a bunch of new soft foods. They are all so good and much easier to chew. I don’t understand why she has to try so many. The one this morning is the same as yesterday. I like this one the best. I told her, so maybe she will stick with this one.

After breakfast, I am exhausted and need a nap. I go to my room, which I share with my boy, and curl up in bed with him. I like it when he is here. He keeps the bed warm for me. As much as I love exploring the neighborhood and keeping up with pals, I love coming home to my safe place. This is the best way to protect him.