Sneaky Dog

Well, I walked over to Alameda Park this morning to practice taiji and staked out the northwest corner, where it looked like the mower had already been. I was reflecting that it might be fun to drive the mower, but when the one actually driving it came close enough, it was clear that he was not enjoying himself. He had a rather...interesting way of moving the picnic table out of the way. He got off the mower and made a half-hearted effort to slide the table. Then he flipped it up-side down, and flipped it back up again (meanwhile moving it laterally about eight feet). It might explain the shape that some of those tables are in...

Anyway, there was a lost dog at the park. He wasn't a stray, as he had tags and a collar, but it quickly became apparent that his owners were NOT at the park. He was a friendly energetic thing, making the rounds of the walkway path just like most of the people were (thought the people were not going nearly so quickly and didn't have their tongue lolling out of one side of their mouth :-) He came over to see me once or twice and I petted him briefly and told him to go find his family. Then an older couple arrived, with a very small, white dog. Presumably they meant to walk the dog around the track. Anyway, they caught sight of this wandering dog and worked themselves into a lather. Little Whitey got shoved back into the car while they called animal control. First I think they accosted several of the walkers, telling them to put THAT THING on a leash...and it didn't belong to any of the walkers.

Now, the wandering dog was quite a bit bigger than little Whitey (maybe three times as big) but it was friendly and not bothering any of the other dogs people were walking. But these two interrupted their walk to get all upset, stood around for a while, and eventually did start walking on the track. By the time animal control got there, the wandering dog was no where to be seen. So the van left, empty-caged...and a little while later, guess who I saw come out from behind a tree... :D The wandering dog had hidden! I was quite entertained. Shortly after that, it did leave the park. I was just as happy it didn't have to do time.