The Dogs In My Neighborhood

Ever since our middle child moved back home last August, a daily walk with her dog Celeste has become habit. And when I say daily, I mean several walks…daily. They’re good for us, and really good for Celeste. She’s a 60 lb Staffordshire terrier mix, so she’s got lots of energy to burn off. They’re good for the humans because, well, walking. I was the semi-regular Celeste walker, as I was home before everybody and usually up before everybody on the weekends, so the “walk” is something that Celeste sees me as her main partner in. You only need to say “Do you want to go for…” and before “a walk” she’s already jumping up and down, whimpering, and running circles around you.

She likes her walks, and so do I.

Since my hospital stay and subsequent miraculous fluid weight loss and general feeling good I’ve been making up for the time I lost from December to April. I’m out as much as possible, and Celeste has no arguments there. The walks for me are two-fold; I’m staying healthy and I’m spending time with one of my favorite 4-legged family members. For Celeste I think it’s similar, but also she gets to survey the neighborhood and say hi to the neighbor dogs.

There are several that we run into, depending on the route we take that day. If we stick to just our neighborhood, we have a few we see(and hear) every time. There’s the Great Dane that lives just two houses and across the street from. You know he’s out because of the Barry White-like low bark, and he’s got a dog brother in some sort of spaniel that barks much higher in range.

Right across the street we have Ziggy, a big old, wire-haired mut that looks like a cross between an Australian Shepherd, Miniature Schnauzer, and a Collie. She’s only a year old, so still a puppy and full of piss and vinegar. Before Ziggy there was the Australian Shepherd named Jersey, named after where his owner was from, Newark, New Jersey. There was a German Shepherd before Jersey that I can’t quite remember the name of, and when we moved here back in 1996 they had a small dog named Spunky. Our mini schnauzer Otto was good friends with Jersey, and Jersey seemed to have few dog friends so their relationship was pretty special.

In the log cabin house is a super cute and small white terrier. This pooch looks like a cross between a white schnauzer and Snoopy from Peanuts. We’re greeted by their amazingly loud and high-pitched bark from the living room window every time we walk by, which then leads into the low, guttural bark from two of the shortest, fattest basset hounds I’ve ever seen. If they’re not at the front door, then they’re in the backyard and at the fence to greet us with their warning yowls.

My favorite dog in the neighborhood(besides Celeste, of course) is the German Shepherd on the other side of the neighborhood that lives in the two-story. If he’s out when we walk by this dog could give a rat’s ass that we’re there. This seems to infuriate Celeste as she demands attention from the other dogs. This German Shepherd will just be grazing in the grass, checking things out in a cool, calm manner paying no mind to anything around it. And when it’s inside, you can see it sitting at the front window, only his eyes and ears visible. It’s like Batman, but a dog. It’s the funniest thing and I look forward to that every time we walk by there.

On down a ways there’s a house with two dogs; one a German Shepherd and the other that looks like if you crossed Benji with a wiener dog. Small legs, long body, and fluffy black and white hair. This dog after we walk by likes to slowly stalk along, maybe half a block, visiting where Celeste has left her mark. He’s harmless, just curious. The German Shepherd is a little more alert and ready to bark right back at us, but he won’t leave the yard.

These are the dogs of our neighborhood. There is another dog in a modular home near us, but you never see them. And it seems like every few months the dog becomes another dog. We’ve seen a Huskey there, a strange, spotted dog with one blue eye that looks more like a Hyena than a dog, and then the most recent one was a white looking terrier, similar to Celeste.

Of course, I’m forgetting the most important dog…Celeste. She can seem aggressive towards other dogs, especially if they seem aggressive back. She’s mostly just enraged enthusiasm, nothing deadly. But I won’t take the chance and keep her close to me when we encounter a fellow 4-legged friend. She goes to doggy daycare at least once or twice a week and gets along with ALL of the dogs there(there’s a lot, too.) So I know she CAN be great around other dogs. I just don’t want to take a chance in case one gives her the heebie jeebies.

There are a few other dogs if we walk Lake Forest instead of our neighborhood, but they’re not as much fun. There’s a cop that has his K-9, usually in a kennel out back. He’s loud and aggressive(like most cops), and then the family dog is this weird looking mut with a blue eye(another blue-eyed mystery dog). This dog likes to antagonize us, running to the edge of the yard getting Celeste all in a huff. Across the street from them is a nice old springer spaniel that looks super friendly. Of course Celeste just acts like an idiot barking and trying to lunge. There’s the mini Schnauzers, the blood hounds, the Shih tzu, and a couple of asshole Goldendoodles.

I prefer the dogs in our neighborhood. They all bark and have their quirks, but then again so does Celeste. Hell, even I have a few. But that’s what makes us, us. It makes the neighborhood that much more colorful, individual, and noisy. If we could just have dogs for neighbors, it might be a better world.

At least for the dogs, anyways. And me.