Welcome to this week’s edition of Follow-Up Friday, the post where I highlight reader’s comments, answer questions and generally, just wrap up my week.

Let’s get to it, shall we?

You Make Me Smile – April 17, 2016

Emma said, “We do perimeter searches every time we go out. We don’t want to be surprised by anything! It’s serious business.”

It sure is serious! What would we do without you?

Sue said, “Rudy hurries to the corner of the deck to survey his kingdom for intruders, then makes a huge loop to get rid of the birds before he begins a perimeter patrol. Rosie? She hurries off the deck to pee, then watches Rudy.”

Bah ha ha, I love Rosie. She knows Rudy has hit covered.

Jan K said, “That’s just about every morning at our house. We get the dogs outside, and both Cricket and Luke are running (racing) to the fence with their noses in the air!”

What is it about the fence that they love so? Mine love to run the fence line, but now that Sampson is injured, I have to be so careful opening the door when Delilah is riled up. He’s snuck out before and slipped. 🙁

Lauranne said, “Mity and BD both used to do this. However my favourite story is when a particularly annoying cat got his comeuppance. This cat would mock Mity, cause he was little when he would go out and bark the cat would get out of harms way but then just look at him as he barked his little head off. In the end one of us would have to go and move the cat along…However, one time it was BD and not Mity that got out to bark at said cat. You should have seen the look on the cats face when a large ginger dog appeared, not the small grey one it was expecting. Karma is a … large ginger dog.”

Cats can be so brazen can’t they? Where are the cameras when you need them?

Misty Shores Chesapeakes said, “That would be Maia at my house and she talks (tells off) the neighbor dog all the time 😉”

Oh Maia. I tell my guys that we don’t bark at our neighbors, but they don’t listen. 🙂

I Always Feel Like…

Taryn Tipton said, “The first Christmas in our house (eons ago and with long-gone Dylan), I shoot out the door for a quick walk because I know the day will quickly get away from me. I want to be sure Dylan is at least comfortable. Of course I forget the bags! Almost home, he takes a dump on someone’s lawn. I do the frantic bag search. Of course it is the one time there is no litter around. What can I do, I move on, fully intending to return immediately with a bag. The home owner, a loud man who did not own a “filthy dog”, starts screaming at me. Not just “you need to pick that up”, but a whole yelling lecture. I tell him I am coming right back but he keeps yelling at me until I am in tears. Wonderful way to start Christmas….”

I don’t understand people like that. If you tell them you will be back,why can’t that be enough? 

Genevieve said, “Ha! What an audience. I can see him judging.”

I could see it too, he was definitely wearing judgy pants.

Jan K said, “I forget them too often, but luckily we don’t walk in neighborhoods, we’re mostly along the woods. So if I can find a stick I will just push it out of the way where no one could step in it.”

Hehehe, I’ve done that too. Shhh, don’t tell anyone. 😉

Lauranne said, “I once went out without a poo bag but managed to beg one from a fellow dog walker. It’s always the way isn’t it you either have 50 or nothing. Even now I put on trousers I haven’t worn for a while and find about 5 poo bags (usually washed) in the pockets.”

I find them everywhere! In pockets, purses, jacket pockets, I even have one in the bag I take back and forth to work. WHY? I have no idea.

Emma said, “We can’t remember the last time we didn’t have a bag, but we can remember doing our business on the edge of a lawn, Mom with bag in hand, and the owner of the house yelling at us because they spend so much money for a nice lawn and dogs just ruin it, blah, blah, blah. I don’t think poop is like pee, but whatever. We walk by that yard a lot and Mom always says “asshole alert” in a soft tone to us.”

Ha ha ha, it’s like the douche canoe that told me he didn’t like dogs on his lawn. Whenever I pass his house I think to myself, “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t let my dogs on your lawn to piss on you if you were on fire.”

Monika and Sam said, “Far too many times we’ve been caught empty handed, luckily there are a few neighbors close by with bag containers for communal use so I could go back and clean up. People crack me up in my neighborhood…they fuss about left poop but all too often, leave it themselves. Bastards. Lately I’ve tried tying a couple newspaper bags to the leash since I may forget to add one to my pocket so that’s keeping those un-bagged moments to a minimum and love it when someone asks to ‘borrow’ a bag because they’re out. Uh…no you can’t borrow one, but you can have one…with my blessings.-no need returning it after borrowing. 🙂”

🙂 No, please keep it. Siriusly? They have bags that they share? That’s pretty darn nice. We have a bag dispenser right inside the park and wouldn’t you know, 98% of the time, there’s a pile of poop within 20 feet of that dispenser.

Lexy said, “I usually just go up to the house Gwynn pooped at and ask for a bag. People are usually thrilled that I haven’t just abandoned his business on their lawn. It’s usually a grocery bag, but people are nice about checking for holes before giving them to me 😛”

Well that’s because you live in Canada, you Canadians are far nicer than we are. I can’t even imagine what one of my neighbors would say if I knocked on their door looking for a bag. LOL

Jen Gabbard said, “And thanks for getting the song stuck in my head… 🙂”

Misery loves company. 😀

Beth said, “I’ve definitely forgotten bags, too. Usually, I realize before we get too far and Barley only protests a little when I make her turn around and go get some with me, but once it happened when we were a couple miles from home with no one to come to our rescue–luckily, it was in the yard of an abandoned house where the grass was really overgrown, so we ran away as quickly as possible and didn’t walk on that road again for a few months in hopes that anyone who might have been watching would forget us!”

Hehehe, I mean, what else could you do?

DZ Dog Mom said, “I’ve forgotten before too!! I hate it when that happens. 🙁 One time thought I managed to find a “big gulp” cup someone had littered behind so I used that to scoop the poop and toss in the trash. LoL”

The next time I forget a bag, I will remember this and be scouring the area for cups. 

The Fox and the Hound

Lauren Miller said, “That’s so cool! I love foxes! We’ve come across deer, squirrels, bunnies and currently we have a cougar running around our neighborhood. I haven’t seen the cougar yet, though… and yes, I live in the city. We have no idea how it got here. One time we were driving in the mountains and we saw a badger. That was pretty cool!”

I worry about certain wildlife, we’ve had Bobcat sightings and just a few weeks ago two dogs were attacked by a pair of coyotes on a trail about three miles from my house. It’s why I always carry the pepper spray, you just never know.

Emma said, “We’ve seen a fox walking down our neighborhood street in the middle of the day a few times now. One morning Bailie and Mom were on their run about 2 miles from home when a fox came towards them on a street. It turned and sat down in a yard. They kept running, but Mom turned after about a block and was shocked to see the fox jogging right behind them. Bailie saw it and wanted to meet it. It was a scary thing for Mom as she didn’t know what to do. It was really early, no one was around, she had to pull all 40lbs of Bailie because she wanted to go to the fox. Finally, the fox stopped and sat down. A few days later we saw a fox on our morning walk very close to us, but he had a kill in his mouth and was on his way somewhere. Mom is scared a fox might go after Bailie. Bailie is bigger, but all the germs, fleas, diseases? Hopefully no more fox will be seen when we are on foot.”

That’s very scary Emma. Does Mom carry any sort of defense? Like pepper spray? We had a pair of young bears approach a woman walking on a wooded trail One of the bears went up to the woman and touched her leg. The bears were caught and euthanized. There was a quite an uproar, because the woman video’d the encounter and did nothing to discourage the bears. ;-(

Jan K said, “We had fox families around at our old house. They can be pretty ballsy. We once had one sitting outside the fenced in yard, in my garden, watching the dogs play ball! We often saw them strolling through the yard in the middle of the day, just outside the fence. A friend also had a standoff with one when walking her dog. It sat right down in the road and wouldn’t move! She has a yorkie so of course that made her very nervous too…she ended up turning around and going back home.”

Wow, I just can’t believe how brazen that fox was! The one we saw was running hell bent for election!

Julie said, “We saw a fox I the field and he looked at us and I was concerned that he was going to engage Cocoa. Or the other way around, haha.”

I hear your concern, I’m glad Delilah didn’t see him cross her path.

Meagan and Merlin said, “On walks I’ve come across kangaroos, a snake and a cute seal pup out sunbathing.”

Aw, that sounds awesome, except for the snake, I don’t care for them. But I’d love to see a kangaroo or seal! You must have an incredibly awesome area to walk in!

Taryn said, “A fox sighting gives me my aerobic work-out for the day! I run trying to give the boys a chance at a good chase! Here’s a post I did about 5 years ago…… Back then the boys had off-leash privileges, but after losing Wilson for over 3 hours to a fox, those days are gone!”

I’ve lost Delilah for 15 minutes and that was terrifying, I can’t imagine what you must have gone through! Thank goodness you got him back! Where Would We be Without Wilson’s Wordless Wednesdays?  

The link on Taryn’s name brings you to a post she wrote about fox sightings. Thanks for sharing that Taryn, I’m with you, if I see something I’m going to reel in my pups!

That’s it for me folks, have an awesome weekend!