a dogwalk

The scent of a soft, summer breeze meets my nose, and I breathe in deeply. I’m just basking in the sun when there’s a tug at my neck and a grunt from up ahead. “Oh, sorry, bud,” says my owner.

I guess he didn’t see me stop to smell the flowers, huh? No problem, I don’t mind. I get to my feet and canter up to his side, nuzzling him. “C’mon. We’ve only just left the house! We’ve got a long walk ahead. It takes an hour to get where we’re going.” He starts walking forwards down the sidewalk, and I follow along at a trot. Cars drive by, their loud motors revving as they speed past.

I watch as other people walk the opposite direction on the other side of the street, looking at me as they do, but paying me no further mind than that. I can smell food from the nearby restaurant. Lovely bread rolls and meat…

I begin to tug on the leash towards the delicious smells. “Not right now, bud. Later. We gotta go to this park, okay? We’ve got a meeting.”

I whine but I don’t keep tugging, and let him keep leading me down the sidewalk. Soon enough, we stop again at the intersection. I look around again. There’s so many people, and so many shops, and so many smells, most of them being food. Delicious… delicious food…

I ate three hours ago, but I’m very, very hungry now. Hey, it was three whole hours! That’s such a long time! That’s, like… a whole day! And besides, I had kibble. But these places have burgers and pizza and pasta and quesadillas and… oh, man, I’m SO HUNGRY.

I tug again. “…alright. I’m a bit hungry anyways. But if we’re late, it’s on you.”

I nuzzle him gratefully, and as soon as the light turns green, we head across the street. “Your choice. Where are we going?”

We can only go to one place? I thought we were going to all of them!

Turns out, we aren’t, so, I tug towards the place where the scent of fresh pepperoni, tomato sauce and semi-melty cheese wafts from, and we have to wait again because it’s on the opposite side of the street from us, but we head over towards the pizza establishment.

“Hmm. Dogs aren’t allowed in here.” I look at a sign that has a dog in a red circle with a red, diagonal line cutting through it. “Tell you what; we can order some when we get where we’re going, alright?”

My tail drops. He said it was an hour away. And knowing my owner, that’s him being optimistic. It’ll probably be two. But all the food!

We always seem to have this problem when I go on walks; I want to go into all the restaurants and eat, and we have somewhere to be, or they don’t let dogs in, and then I have to wait for hours to get anything…

It seems to be some sort of stupid game we play. And I always lose. I think. Maybe? I don’t know what the rules are, but I always have to wait for bites, so I’m pretty sure I’m losing.

We continue walking for thirty minutes with nothing of note happening. More nice scents, and a couple of other dogs walking, but nothing of note. Nothing exciting!

However, now, we begin to pass through the park. There are a lot of other dogs. Playing. With toys. And running around. Rolling in the grass. It looks like the most fun thing on earth, and I want to join in, but I know we probably can’t.

That’s when I see it.

The couple. With their orange tabby cat.

Now, I’ve always been absolutely fascinated with cats. They’re just so weird! Tiny, kind of like dogs, but then not at all like dogs, and so fun to chase! But sometimes, cats can be really mean and just attack for no reason, even when you aren’t chasing them. They’ll just bat at you and mock you.

Rude, isn’t it? How they just… smack you on the snout and laugh? So rude.

I hear it getting close, and I can already feel the jabs coming as I see it look at me, so I growl at it. My owner looks at me and at where I’m looking. “Uh-oh. C’mon. Let’s go…”

I growl for just a moment longer and then leave it alone, padding back to my owner’s side.

I’ve missed out on pizza, toys and a cat, but still, I’ve gotten to go on a walk, and that’s the second best thing in the whole world…

Behind snacks, of course. Good snacks. Human snacks. Not dog snacks.

One bite of burrito is better than ten cookies at once, and that’s a fact.

“We’re here,” my owner says after fifteen more minutes of silence. I look up from the sweet-smelling dandelion and see a massive, towering, colossal building. “No, not there. There.” He points at a small, cozy looking cafe. I’ve got a friend to meet. And not only that, they’ve ordered the pizza for us…”

I bounce around, wagging my tail all the while. Maybe I’ll get my pepperoni and cheese after all! After all the turmoil and waiting and strained patience that never existed in the first place…

Unfortunately, yet again, I’m met with the pure, unfiltered disappointment that is… the no dogs allowed sign.

My owner ties my leash to a fencepost outside and walks into the cafe. I look around everywhere, looking for anything to pique my interest, but we seem to be on a business block, not many plants, no other animals, and the only scent of anything consumable right behind me and completely inaccessible.

When at last my owner comes out, there’s another person with him, a woman I’ve never met, carrying a pizza box. He unties me from the fencepost and we begin the walk back home.

And everything repeats itself.

The only difference is the new woman who laughs at my antics, pets me every two minutes, and steals all my pizza.

At least she’ll leave when we get home, right? …Right?