I always wanted to look after a dog, or a cat, or even some fish, it really didn’t matter what so long as it was a living entity. Heck, a plant would even do, probably the cheapest and less emotionally distracting for those in-the-case-I-fuck-up-and-they-die situations. The reason I don’t have a pet or a plant is because I move around so much, sometimes to other cities for days, and so I wouldn’t be able to give a pet the long term attention it needs to survive, and yes, because of this, they would probably die. However, a dog named Billy was an unplanned guest in the house, probably one of the friendliest, laziest, bipolar dogs I’ve ever met. His breed is called a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, I think. I asked a pedestrian with a similar looking dog, except with black spots instead of brown.
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He was put under the care of my housemate because his owner was going away somewhere on some errand. I found him on the bed when I came home, he was so excited he slobbered a little on the duvet.
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After a few days, I realised how nice it was to have a dog patter around the house. I actually found it strange to have a mildly intelligent life form of another species living near me, it’s different to having a cat about the house. I see foxes all the time prowl the streets, and birds of course, the occasional snail and cat, but dogs are still weird. Especially when you pick them up and pet them, and when they look at you with a variety of expressions.
I wasn’t sure how to look after Billy, since my housemate wasn’t always home, so I bought some denta-stix for it, cause I wondered if it needed to brush it’s teeth. Dogs clean their teeth, right?
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On day 4, my housemate gave me a crash course on how to walk the dog, because he was a bit busy on the piano and I was curious, Billy was excited as ever, almost jittery to the point of self-injury. My housemate gave four golden rules:
- don’t take him off the leash
- when near a road, get him to walk by your side
- hold the leash short when crossing the road
- bring plastic bags to pick up the shit
So off we went, I found myself talking to the dog. Saying things like, “You’re quite obsessed with peeing on other people’s property aren’t you?” or “quite the girl magnet aren’t you?” (when a group of girls stopped to pet it). I decided to be led by the dog, just to see where I’de go. We travelled around the residential areas, through some bushes, and past some parking lots, we walked past a gang of burly looking boys, and eventually made it to the park.
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At some point, Billy started sniffing another dog, who’s owner was sitting slouched on the bench. I didn’t really know what to do, my housemate hadn’t told me about this, I know it’s usual to just pull the dogs away from each other, but to drag Billy away seemed kind of rude. I decided to say something to the owner, a depressed looking man in a dark brown leather jacket. I say he was depressed looking, because he just stared into space, and when I awkwardly said “hello, nice dog”, he just kept on staring. He seemed like he wanted to be left alone, so I finally walked Billy away from the other dog. We got home, and Billy picked at his food bowl. Man, he’s a picky eater. I miss him already.
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So that was the first time I’ve ever walked a dog. No, wait, my second time. The first time I walked a dog I got injured in an ensuing dogfight, haha.
