My dog shits in the road too.
The other day on the way home I noticed cars slowing to a stop. When I looked ahead, I saw a woman bent over in the street and she appeared to be picking something up. Then I looked to the side of the road and noticed her two dogs, standing patiently waiting. As she stood up I saw the baggie in her hand. She looked sheepishly at the cars stopped on both sides of the road as she moved back to her dogs.
A huge smile broke out on my face.
It was a beautiful fall day and I had my window down, I had to resist the urge to scream out the window, “My dog shits in the middle of the road too” with a cheerful accompanying wave.
It’s NOT a CAT!!
In my effort to cut down on dog encounters I’ve taken to heading home at lunch time to walk Sampson and Delilah. Knock wood, so far this is working out fairly well.
Monday afternoon we ran into one of our neighbors who lives across the street about three houses down. She wanted to let me know the man next to her had a fisher ‘cat’ in his yard the other morning.
(Photo courtesy of Chris Clarke and used under his Creative Commons Policy)
This news scared the bejesus out of me. I mean, for one our first walk of the day starts around 6:00 am and it’s still dark out and staying darker every single day. I know I walk two big dogs, but these idiots would definitely want to investigate this critter.
He may look cute, like a little bear but this sucker is mean. He has sharp teeth and claws and yes he climbs trees! His official name is Fisher, but for some reason most folks call him a Fisher cat. Maybe it’s because he climbs trees. But the neighbor told me he comes for the cats. 🙁 Either way, I sure as hell don’t want to run into him, with or without dogs.
Tuesday morning I started carrying a full-size flashlight. (I have a little light on the visor of my ball cap, but it doesn’t give a lot of light.) First morning out I’m on high alert and as we pass a house, I think I see something in the yard. I shine the flashlight and two eyes stare back at me. I’m convinced it’s either a fisher or a GRIM. I shine the light again, the eyes are still there. But the light is not bright enough to show me what the eyes are attached to. So I skedaddled.
Fingers crossed a bright light shining in something’s eyes would be a good deterrent.
This new flashlight makes the dawn dance a little more complicated, for instance yesterday morning I bent down to pick up somebody’s pooping business and accidentally shone the flashlight into the upstairs of someone’s house, which set their dog to barking. I don’t know about you, but ’round my parts the only people who shine flashlights in windows are cops or crooks. I had to skedaddle again before they called the cops on me.
Jones Natural Chews
I ran out of the lamb lung puffs that Miss Flea sent me to help her celebrate her blogging anniversary this past July. If you haven’t tried them yet, I’d like to remind you, these things are like Doggie CRACK!
None of my local pet stores carry the lamb lung, so I went to the Jones website and ordered two bags. These are my “Look” and “Here” treats so I guard them very carefully.
The box came on Monday and I couldn’t get up the stairs without Delilah having her nose all up in the box. I put it down on the floor so I could snap some photos.
What the heck do they seal these boxes with?
Where can I get me some opposable thumbs?
Sorry for the blurred photos, as you can see, she was quite determined to get that crack!
Finally I took pity on her and opened it.
Finally some Jones Lamb Lung puffs!
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I’d love to get some of those lamb lung puffs for my girls, but I’m afraid to start them on ANYTHING else new after the Proflora escapade!
That’s so funny about the lady in the middle of the road!! My dog’s haven’t done that yet, I guess I’m lucky. LOL The Fisher is so cool!! We got to see them when we went to the Northwest Trek in Washington. They are so animated and fun to watch. I’m sure it would probably be scary running into a “wild” one, though!! We once saw a badger crossing the road! He was scary, but so neat!
Sam does that sometimes. We’ll be walking along and all of a sudden, the leash pulls tight and I know “ugh, he’s taking a dump.” Could be in the middle of the street, middle of a sidewalk (especially going up toward front doors–awk!), wherever the notion strikes, this doofas will squat. Some days I want to wear a bag over my head and then I realize how sweet he is and just chalk it up to yet another idiosyncrasy. I have to remind myself that we accept strange behavior like that from other family members, we should accept it in dogs too. 🙂
I’m with you, Jodi. I wouldn’t want to run into a Fisher with or without dogs either – especially when it’s dark outside.
You should have shouted encouragement and waved at the lady in the street, if it had been me I would have loved the moral support! And perhaps you need to make yourself big and scary to cheer off the cat bear fox thing (I can’t remember what it’s called!) I don’t know if it’ll work but the idea of you walking around stomping your feet and flapping your arms amuses the hell out of me!
This post made me think of that commercial where the lady needs new glasses, opens her door, calls here kitty, kitty and lets a raccoon in thinking it is her cat. We love dark morning walks, but right now it is raining and for Mom dark and rain isn’t real fun, but we are out in it.
Never heard of a Fisher before but sure understand your concerns. Have a tremendous Thursday.
Best wishes Molly
That little guy sure doesn’t look friendly to me! I’d skedaddle too! Maybe you should throw him a couple of treats? But then he might follow you to get more, so nix that idea.
Sorry, but I’m still laughing about you shining your flashlight into your neighbor’s house 😉
Fishers are scary little creatures! We have those around here also, although I have never heard them called a fisher cat.!?
That is just too funny about the woman picking poop up in the middle of the road. Why dogs decide to poop right then and there I will never know!!! Been there done it…..most likely many more times!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
We don’t have FISHERS here… but they do have them not far from where SARGE lives. They are Mean like Badgers.
LOL Daisy poops wherever she pleases too. One time we’d taken her to Princeton and were walking her right across the street from the famous ivy league college, in front of all the beautiful high-end stores, when she decided to walk off the curbside grass and poop in the middle of the sidewalk, where dozens upon dozens of people were taking enjoyable leisurely strolls and window shopping. What possessed her?! The looks she – and we – got from passersby were NOT looks of amusement. We tried to pick her up and move her to the grass, but she just skittered back to the sidewalk. I guess that ruined her chances of ever being accepted to Princeton University! 😉
Scary looking critter I would say. You need to get better organized with the walking, light carrying thing. I have no suggestions however. And you should have said something to the lady picking up the shit in the road. It would have made her day.
I think all dog owners have had the road incident
retro rover
You REALLY stretched out the lamb lungs. I’m impressed! That’s one of my favorite things about that treat – they last a long time. Glad Sampson and Delilah love them so!
You so should have yelled out to the woman cleaning up poop in the road. You should have made a friend for life. 🙂
I wonder if you should think of carrying citronella on the walks. It wouldn’t hurt the fisher and if you accidentally sprayed Sampson or Delilah, they wouldn’t like the smell but it wouldn’t hurt them either.
A dog was sprayed by a skunk in front of my house last week (the stench was horrendous). I’m always on guard at night to keep Honey smelling sweet.
Hilarious. Lady when I gotta go, I’ll go in the parking lot
Lily & Edward
Thanks Jodi!! I’ve been looking for a higher value treat than the ones we’ve been using..i’ll try the lamb puffs! 🙂
Flashlight is a must around here. Not so much to see critters, but more so Mom can see if I’m eating anything off the ground. She thinks if there’s a chicken bone within a 10 mile radius, I’ll find it and eat it. Hmmmm…. I sure hope so!!
Love and licks,
Cupcake
Ha! Riley sometimes chooses to take his dumps in the middle of the road too. It’s not a big deal, since we live in a town that has a population of 400, but it’s still embarrassing. We have heard great things about those lung puffs but haven’t got the chance to try them yet.
I have never seen a Fisher Cat! How cute! And I got a good laugh out of you picking up the dog poo and shining the light into someone’s window accidentally! LOL!
Fishers, foxes, bears….these would all be the reasons we keep our cats indoors and I don’t walk in the dark. I went to an Outdoors Woman weekend seminar once, and they had some stuffed fishers….those things have some pretty scary claws and teeth for sure!
You need one of those snake lights that you can wrap around your neck to free up hands and position it how you want it…lol. We fishers in Michigan, but I have only seen them from afar.
Wow a fisher, how cool is that????
Despite my dogs being let out for potty in the yard before a walk, they have to poop on the walk too. Where do they get all that crap! They don’t poop on the road or sidewalk, thank goodness, but Maya has a tendency to want to poop on the nicest lawns. Even though I pick it up, I always feel bad about her soiling such a nice lawn.
The road pooping incident reminds me of a dog I used to have when I was a child. She would always go in the most inconvenient places: busy train station platforms, if front of a neighbours car door etc. She didn’t care where we were and just got on with it. : )