The Walker's and Their Dogs . . .

The Walker's and their dogs - the count is up to four now since we have lived here. The Walkers are our neighbors, Scott and Christie, a young couple with three children, a girl, a boy and a girl.

Since we have lived here they have gone through two cats and four dogs. The first dog was Penny. Penny was a snappish dog that got along with nobody, at least no of us. She would as soon bite you as look at you and remained in the back yard under control.

I guess to calm Penny down, they added Elvis, a Basset Hound with one blue eye and one brown eye - very disconcerting to look at. As lively as Penny was, is as slow as Elvis is. Big deep voice and Penny would start barking and get Elvis going, and go he did. He barked and barked and barked.

Well one day, Penny took a snap at one of the children and Christie decided she had to go. We breathed a sigh of relief, as with Penny gone Elvis did not bark. He was to stupid to figure it out how to himself and he moped around the back yard.

About then, they decided their two cats had to go. The were spraying up the garage something fierce - I guess the house too. At any rate the cats were no longer with us one day. Now we could enjoy our flower beds with out cat deposits in them again.

Then one day a little fur ball of a dog showed up, a cute little Shitz Zu pup - named Patches. Patches did not want to be in the back yard with the big old Basset hound and found many holes in and under the fence to escape. And escape he did.

We befriended Patches. After a few weeks of capturing him and taking him home we fed him. He had his own water bowl and many bags of treats. He even had a mat to sleep on. Patches would come over and stay until the kids got home from school and he would go home an play. When they let him out in the backyard at night, he came over and scratched on the back door for attention. Naturally, he got the attention and a snack and he would climb up in a chair and go to sleep until he got called in.

Patches roamed the nearby houses. One house was under construction and Patches would go over there and get chicken bones and the like to chew on. So he was always looking for something and had no fear of the workmen.

That was Patches' undoing. At the next new house, he must have stolen a lunch or something like that. He was a nuisance in that regard. Or maybe one of the workmen just did not like dogs. But Patches got kicked in the ribs. Scott took him to Vet and the Vet said he had seven ribs broken and they had punctured his lungs. So Patches got put down. We miss Patches and the other neighbor dog, Roofie, missed him too. Roofie was skitish too now and I figured she had been kicked also. Roofie finally trusted us but then her owner's got her electronic collar working, and she visits no more.

Poor old Elvis mourned Patches and we fed him all of Patches treats through the fence. After a while he got over it. You could tell he was lonely.

Now a new dog has appeared, Priscilla, a young Boxer mix. She has huge feet. Priscilla gets out much like Patches did but since she is growing bigger by the day, her free time is nearing an end. She does not accept that, pounds the fence, has learned to get on her side and skinny under the fences.

Priscilla, is a little skitish of us but tolerates us. We have an old bird bath bowl sitting on the ground out back. She will walk up to the bowl, step in, do a few turns around and lie down in it. We figure she must have some Labrador Retriever in her blood lines. But she is short haired like a Boxer.

Priscilla has the run of the neighborhood. She seeks out other dogs to play with. Our neighbors to the West, the Enrights, have a dog named Bradley. Bradley is a big dog and stays penned in the back yard all day long. Priscilla goes over to play with him and has, in general, befriended the Enrights. So she is tolerated over there.

The routine is for Priscilla to escape out of the back yard back fence, come though our yard and go over to see Bradley. Any dog on the street, being walked or otherwise, is greeted by Priscilla who wants to play. She's been brought back home by any number of neighbors. It is only a matter of time before the dog catcher gets her.

Oh, yes, the cat. Well they got another cat. It was a house cat until Priscilla came along. Now the cat has the garage, and the garage door is kept open for it to have a place of refuge amongst the area of dogs. I chased the cat out our garage the other day. I hope the cat survives the Coyotes and other feral animals that roam the area.

The kids are growing, two in school and the youngest is pushing three now. A very nice family that can not say no to pets. Sometimes we think the pets overwhelm them. Children first them pets and it seems the children are as far as control gets.