I’m playing basketball and I see this man walking through the courts with this young, grey male pit bull on his side.
As the court next to mine had just been used by a couple with two dogs, the grey puppy stops and sniffs around. The man keeps walking and turns around a corner.
I figure that he’s waiting on his dog. The dog keeps sniffing and after five minutes I’m wondering what the owner is thinking, but OK!
I kind of forget about all that as I’m focusing on my physical activity.
The dog comes closer to me, but stays at bay, still sniffing. I’m done and packing. As I leave the court this dog comes right by me, walking as if we’d been together since forever. Mmmh.
I don’t give and didn’t give him anything. No eye contact, no petting, no calling. I’m about to turn the corner, looking after his owner but I don’t see anyone.
The dog goes on a tangent and toward some parking lot, while sniffing more. I’m relieved. I’m thinking this is over.
I’m walking on the sidewalk with my music on, knowing that the dog went the opposite way towards some people and activities. I start forgetting about him. He doesn’t.
I hear a little dog gallop behind me and I’m thinking that he’s well groomed, has a collar and that this is getting really weird.
Again, he gets right by me and we’re walking toward my car together as if we’d been doing this for a minute. All I can think of is that I’ll need to be smart about opening the door because I have a feeling that he’d jump in the back in a heartbeat.
Again, no eye contact, no energy given to him. He’s just quiet, trying to get my attention looking up with his ears pointing out to the back of his head, relaxed. No whining, no barking. I’m stretching next to my grey car and he’s sniffing the back of my hand now. He’s waiting by the door, patiently.
I have to fake a walk away from my car to go back to it and enter quickly. The dog stays on the sidewalk, a bit confused. I’m sorry, man!
I drive away looking in my rear view mirror, seeing him being a good boy, going back to sniffing around. I like to think that he had a sense that I would take good care of him, that he could feel it. Because I would, except that it’s not the right time for me to have a dog.
May you find a home that takes care of your cute face, boy.