The first thing I do in the morning after I shut that damn alarm off is to check the weather.

Friday my phone said it was 7° out. After pulling on my jacket, boots and ski pants I asked Hubby if I could borrow his balaclava.

It was my first time wearing a balaclava and as Delilah and I strolled down the street I thought, No wonder he likes wearing it, the heat from your breath stays on the inside and warms your face. I made a mental note to try and find one that fit my head, not his.

Since it was so cold out I didn’t expect Delilah and I to encounter any yard dogs, but sure enough, one of her arch-enemies was out in his/her yard.

There are actually two dogs in this yard and while there is no sign indicating so, I assume they are on an invisible fence. Delilah’s arch-enemy likes to run back and forth along the property line and bark at us as we walk past.

I’ve worked really hard with Delilah on getting her past this house. Delilah has attitude and her attitude is, I’m all that and a bag of chips and if you mess with me, I will fuck you up. Without me redirecting her, she is looking for that dog and itching for it to challenge her so she can show that dog her bad ass self.

Delilah’s arch-enemy watches for dogs coming down the street, and Delilah watches for her arch-enemy. The minute I see this dog, I bring out my treats and tell Delilah, not your business. 

Which is exactly what I did on Friday morning. So there we are walking down the left side of the street and Delilah is on my left. The arch-enemy’s house is on the right side of the street, giving us a distance of about 25 to 30 feet.

Delilah is attentively looking up at me as I’m breaking pieces of freeze-dried beef lung up and feeding them to her. As predicted, the dog is barking at us.

This is the hairy part.

We were about half-way past this house and I can hear this dog barking on my right. Suddenly I realize that the dog sounds pretty close to me. I turn my head to the right and there, in the middle of the road, is the damn dog, now only about 8 to 10 feet away from me.

What the actual fuck dog?

Delilah was still focused on me, which was a totally good thing, so I looked at that dog and I said, “Get over there! Get in your own yard!”

To my complete and utter surprise, the dog turned around and went into its yard, where it watched us as closely as I watched it. That is at least until I felt we’d reached a safe enough distance so I could drop my guard.

I don’t think Delilah ever saw that the dog was that close to me, and that was good. Because a dog sneaking up on her six, especially when food was involved would not have ended well.

No dog wants to surprise Delilah with a nose in her ass, because she will turn around and give you a face full of chocolate the likes of which will scare the Bejesus out of you.

My heart was pumping in my chest and I started to breathe a little harder and said, well THAT gets the heart rate up.

But Delilah was unfazed.

Now about that balaclava….just my observation… If you’re going to wear a balaclava and glasses, make sure it’s not covering your nose, especially if there’s a possibility that you might be breathing hard. 🙂