Having been kept her quiet since her misadventure with a hydrangea leaf, we finally took a longer walk again once Donna has sufficiently recovered. My walks with her typically comprise me time, in which we run along the path to build strength and flexibility in my recovering foot and Donna time, where Donna gets to inspect all the grass, tree trunks and light posts, etc to her heart’s content.
Sometimes during Donna time, I play a game whereby I drop to walking a few steps behind her and see where she goes. The last two times we did this at the empty carpark behind our block, she invariably chose to drift further and further away from where we live, choosing to walk along the void deck of other blocks that we never walked before.
But this time we were at the park behind our block and so she chose to meander from one plot of grass to another, turning circles as she tracked this scent and that.
Eventually we returned to the footpath that we were accustomed to follow when we run. As we strolled leisurely along, she was in her own world and ignored the runners running past us.
By and by, an old man came up from behind and as he drew up, he asked if Donna was a local dog. I replied that yes, she was. The old man shared that his friend recently found a local dog at the nearby train station and it followed him home. I asked what colour was the dog, remembering that there was a missing tan-coloured dog by the name of Chilli in the neighbourhood. The old man replied that it was white.
The old man then told me that he used to have a chihuahua. It was given to him when the chihuahua’s family had to move. He chuckled as he recalled how the small little chihuahua would know when he or his wife were coming home to their tenth floor flat , even if they were still downstairs! He said the chihuahua would rollover in excitement. He went on to talk about how cheap it was to feed the chihuahua, only 30 cents a day. He fed it bits of chicken and papaya. (Inwardly, I reminded myself chihuahuas are small and probably ate like birds :P) But oh boy was the vet fees expensive when the chihuahua was diagnosed with cancer. And after 3-4 years together, the chihuahua passed away and cremation cost him $350.
Before we parted, the old man reminded me to not let Donna in the grassy areas since there are ticks about. I grinned sheepishly thinking that the grassy areas are exactly where Donna gets Donna time. Luckily, so far we have not encountered mites. We regularly spray her with this insect-repelling DIY spray and we do have Frontline Plus in the cupboard, even if we use it more sparingly.
We continued to meander since Donna still seemed pretty active and also because I was waiting for her to poop. By this time, we had left the park to walk along the train line before we circle back on a parallel path. It was here that I noticed an old lady with an off leash white dog in front of us. It was a small white dog with floppy ears and a fluffy white bobbing tail and amazingly, it kept to within a 1 metre radius of the old lady, who for the most part looked disinterested and just slumped along. We crossed to the other side of the road so that Donna would not disturb the old lady and the small white dog. Eventually we were strolling exactly opposite of the old lady and the white dog. The white dog saw us and for about perhaps 10 metres of the walk, it trotted on its side of the road looking at us and smiling joyfully in the cutest manner. The old lady turned a corner and for the first time, the white dog left its 1 metre radius as it trotted along still smiling at us. But the old lady soon turned and made a noise and the dog obediently ran back about two metres to her and they continued on.
We eventually came to the corner where we made our turn, just as a man was crossing the road to our side with a tiny chihuahua, only slightly bigger than a fat rat! The chihuahua all but ignored us, while I was the one staring at it. I always did find them funny with their little chicken legs and rodent size.
We continue down the path we turned into and soon encountered four schoolgirls. Two of them saw Donna and decided they desperately needed to take an alternate route to avoid us, while the other two continued towards us as they chatted. It was only when they went past us that they suddenly made a loud whoop and skipped excitedly away to join their other two friends. And all that time, my fear-inspiring dog was too distracted inspecting the grass to even cast them a glance.
A last turn took us back to the path that leads to our block. A family cycled past us and I could hear their conversation. The mother warning her child, “that dog will bite”. Meanwhile an Indian family and their toddlers strolled casually close to Inspector Grass, my grass sniffing dog and I, as they passed us. The mother on the bicycle continued as they cycled across the dog, “some dogs will bite even if you don’t touch them.”
Maybe one day, I should put a T-shirt on Donna before we start out on our walk. It could say, “The ant bit me, it hurts!” or something equally random. :D
