A Whackadoodle Truth: You don't train the dog, you train the dog trainer.

Dogs have their own opinions. Maybe we should just listen to them. Of course that might require paying attention to body language and uncomfortable silences. A very human story.

Photo by David Clarke on Unsplash

I had a most intriguing encounter today. I spoke with my neighbor. Imagine that, I spoke with my neighbor. I was walking back down the hill to my house, while she was walking up the hill to hers. Her hands were full, but she managed to wave. Instead of waiving back, I stopped. I asked about her day. It had clearly been bad.

We both squatted down on the street in front of our homes. The crap in our hands forgotten on the road. We talked.

We sat for over an hour, and she told me all the things that she couldn’t tell to her family, or they might get angry and sue her. (It’s why some people need a psychiatrist. You know; a place where you can actually be honest.)

I didn’t say much, unless it was to say, “I so get that,” or “I apologize for my cats.”

“Good evening ladies.”

An awkward silence followed. I filled it by saying, “We’ve been talking about our pets.”

I knew him. His is after all another neighbor. I knew that he and his wife have fostered many pets. At one point they were fostering a pig, and I used to say hello to that ever growing and incredibly cute pig.

He decided to joined us, squatting right along with us on the road without asking if we might be talking about something more important than pets, and suddenly the conversation switched from her to him. He had so much wisdom to share, and he couldn’t wait to share it. He did have wisdom and he also needed to share it. He even mentioned that if I ever wanted to sell my home, he might know someone who wanted to buy it.

He is a kind man, but she needed to talk. When he joined us, she stopped talking.

It ended when my squatting feet gave out. The last words I said to her were, “I am serious, if you need someone to walk your dog, I think that walking your dog will be as good for me as for him. I’d also love to do a few of those walks with you.”

She has yet to take me up on the offer, but we do wave at each other whenever we can.