Doggie Paddle

(Thanks for the title LW)

There's been a lot of rain here lately. Well, there's always a lot of rain here.
Today on my lunch run, I ended up in the middle of it, literally.

I passed the small parking lot with the amorous couple and noticed the beginnings of a puddle. No trouble, I figured, I'll stay toward the shoulder. Which worked well, until the puddle spread to the shoulder. So up I went onto the curb. Which worked well until I had to decide, thanks to my balance, whether to risk a twisted ankle or suck up the wet shoe. (Did I mention this is just where the local sewage treatment plant discharges into the stream?) Well, needless to say, I had a wet foot. But only one, which I figured was okay. A decent small sacrifice.

Until I fully rounded the corner, and saw that the puddle was in reality a small flood, completely covering the road, curb shoulders, right up to the hill side.

The only bright spots here:

• I didn't get my other foot wet as I turned around to go back, and
• I got a chuckle from the amorous lady who disengaged from her beau long enough to laugh at me.

So, all was well. I continued my run with my one moderately wet foot. I was trying a new route. An out an back that would take me half way home. I'd done the other half a couple of weeks ago during the weekend. The goal being to scout the route to support future bicycling to work.

Well when I say well, I mean almost well. I had a run in with a dog.

A young girl of about 13 was out walking her dog. A big happy looking guy about the size of a large border collie. Not on a leash of course. As I ran by, he trotted out to follow me with a big ol' doggie grin on his face.

While he looked friendly enough, I really didn't want to push him. So I slowed down to a slow jog (compared to the scorching pace I had been maintaining of course). And he just kept pace with me, big doggie grin and all.

So I stopped. All this time, the girl is calling her dog: "Fido, Fido, Komm!" to no avail. Eventually, she broke out the dog whistle. And the dog turned and faced her, then turned and faced me with a big "Will you let me run with you" look on his face. (Or at least that's how I interpreted it. Maybe it was German dog for "One more step and you're mine!") I think what really saved me was another runner coming from the other direction. She distracted him enough for me to slowly jog off.

Now, for some reason, I brought my drink bottle with me today. Not that it was that hot. But I guess, I could have used that to give the dog a big squirt in the face if it came down to it. That would I'm sure have either solved the problem or pissed the ever-living bejeezes out of him. Needless to say, after I was a good way clear, I gave the bottle a good test squeeze and it produced a nice solid stream of water. Would it have worked? I'm glad I didn't have to find out.

I've only had one other "run-in" with a dog while running. Back in England while running with a friend we were "threatened" by a dog. Right on one of the waterfront cycle/walking paths in Portsmouth's Northend. It was a real mean sounding thing, baring it's teeth, growling, sneering, drooling. All 10 pounds of it. I think a swift kick would have sent it spinning into the muddy low tide water.

I discussed this with the LW when I got home. We decided for 'grab the throat and choke' over 'gouge the eyes' when in extremis with a dog.