My What Big Dogs You Have

When I’m out walking the dogs, I try to always go around people instead of passing them on the sidewalk because I never know if the dogs will nip, growl, or lick someone. I especially try to give black people a wide berth because they seem to worry more about the dogs than most people (I don’t think this is racist, this is just kind of how it works, primarily with black people who you can tell aren’t usually in the neighborhood). So anyway, I am going around a black guy this morning and after we get by without incident (as usual, my dogs aren’t racist, they just don’t like postmen and garbagemen), the guy asks me what kind of dogs I have. I say they are black labs. He said Really? I didn’t think they got that big. I pointed to Katie who is a little bigger than Austin and I said yeah I’ve seen bigger and a lot of times broader dogs (Katie is pretty lanky) and we moved on (neither of us had stopped, we were just passing).

This seemed to be part of trend or maybe just a coincidence because this past weekend I was outside when the postman came to deliver mail and had a chance to talk to him while the dogs were barking at him from inside. I said something like Sorry about the dogs. And he said it was no problem, but those sure were BIG dogs. He said he told people at work about how big the dogs are at my house, their heads halfway up in my windows. I said I don’t think they’re really that big, but they do have a stool near the window that lets them get a better view out the window. He laughed and seemed relieved that they didn’t tower 4 feet off the ground. I’d never thought about the stool making the dogs seem bigger but it also might help explain why last week my phone books were left not on the doorstep but about 10 feet out into my yard. That must have been about when Katie or Austin scraped on the inside of the door.