Sometimes grand-dog Sadie is eager to walk with me, and sometimes she hugs the bed and refuses to go outside. Today she danced at the front door, then stood still for me to attach her leash. Unlike yesterday, she got past the end of the driveway. I was walking confidently, my plan in place if we met Rosie. Rosie is a year old now and already bigger than Sadie. The last time we met on the road, Sadie almost pulled me off my feet, lunging at our neighbor dog. I recognized that as a danger sign. If I saw Rosie with Lisa or Harmony, I would wave and quickly walk the other way. That would get us out of their way, and we would scurry home.
As we walked, I scanned the road ahead like a radar. Not a human or dog was in sight. When I began to relax, I spotted it – a green poop bag – Rosie’s poop bag!! (Sadie’s bags are red.) That meant she had done her business close to her home, and she was behind me somewhere and eventually heading my way. I dawdled, letting Sadie sniff everything thoroughly. If we took long enough getting to the stop sign, Rosie could slip in behind us and get home before we turned back. Unfortunately, the sign is ON the edge of her property. We turned back, having gone as far as we were going.
Sadie knew we were headed home and trotted quickly to get back to her breakfast. I obediently went as fast as I could, closer to a trot than was comfortable. What was the likelihood of our beating the odds for half a mile? A LONG half-mile? If we could only make it to the top of our street, we’d stand a chance of getting home without incident.
We made it! I released Sadie, and she bounded around three of our neighbor’s yards on the way to our front door. She has no idea why I praised her lavishly.
A question – Would you let a green poop bag frighten you??
Mehrling Muse 
Well…Im wondering why the bag was left on the ground?
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I was wondering the same thing. 🙄
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We leave a bag on the side of the road and pick it up on the way home. There are no blocks or circular roads, so we have to retrace our steps to get home.
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Makes sense!
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We do that here. There is only one way home, so we leave the bag until we finish walking and pick up the bag on the way home.
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If it would freak out the dog I was walking, yes! When Jake would go outside, I was always on the lookout for chipmunks or other small creatures that he could catch. I would try to engage him in another direction. Sometimes I put him back in the house.
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Sadie didn’t know the significance of the green poop bag. It was a big flare for me.
I never watched our cats outside. Only two or three times did they bring a live animal back in with them.
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I don’t know about poop bags, but I am always watching for other dogs when I take ours out for a walk. You never know when one can get loose in the neighbourhood and most of the dogs around here could swallow Kat in one bite.
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That would be scary! No wonder your dog antenna is always up!
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For sure. 😊
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The answer to your questionn would depend on whether it was flying towards me or not, and whether it was full or empty.
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Ha! Ha! A full poop bag would be a terrifying weapon!
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Yes, you need to be wary of poop bags! LOL. We try to steer clear of bigger dogs as Lia tends to bark at them and lunge. Small to mid sized dogs are OK and she’s made friends with some of them. Dot is friendly with all dogs and I dont have to worry about her. If they are quite big she hides behind me. They are two very different dogs.
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Your dogs are well-behaved. Sadie ignores little dogs and only lunges at those who could kill her. I have to be scared for her, you see.
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We once had a big dog and the way smaller neighbor dog was always trying to start something.
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That would be Sadie here. I don’t know what would happen if she got close to Rosie. Just possibly, she wants to be friends. I don’t want to find out if that’s not the case.
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I think it’s brilliant you observed that and changed plans accordingly. You have every right to be wary of the bag.
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My heart lurched when I saw Rosie’s bag by the road. John and $ don’t want me to walk Sadie by myself, so I had to have a contingency plan.
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What is Rosie’s reaction when Sadie lunges at her? Are they trying to make friends, or threatening? We haven’t had a dog since before Bob died twenty years ago. I am not much of a dog person, but we always had at least one because Bob just loved dogs.
I have to ask… if Rosie’s bag is green, and Sadie’s bag is red–to whom does the pink bag belong? 🙂
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Ha! Ha! I think of Sadie’s bags as being red because they are in a red case. In reality, the bags are a bit redder than the photo showed. I’m not seeing colors very well right now, either. There is a big blur in the center of one eye, but I get the next injection on Monday.
Rosie’s owners have worked very hard to train her, and she is behaving very well. She stands still on command, but Sadie’s lunging and barking cause her to strain to get to Sadie.
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photo colors tend to be distorted. What are the injections you are having (today), how many are involved? I do have problems with light, the reflections jump off of the little metal trim doo-dads on my glasses, and stab me in the eye. I color them in with black marker, which helps. Overhead light is the worst, especially in Aldi’s.
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My eye was leaking, may still be. The injection will be in my eye, the second one since macular degeneration was diagnosed. I’ve had some good-sight days and many when the eyes do not work together. My dad went blind from it, but there was no treatment back then. People have assured me that I will likely get along well as time goes on. The injections are a month apart and might be spaced out more later.
That’s awful that your glasses attack you with reflections. I never noticed anything unusual with Aldi’s lights. I’m lucky!
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Max does not get along with other dogs, and I had a similar experience this morning. Neighbor’s sometimes aggressive dog went bounding across the road chasing deer. I tried to hide Max so that we wouldn’t have an altercation, and just managed to escape!
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Oh! You were smart! Disaster averted!
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There is something weird going on all over the country? I see discarded bags all the time no matter where I go!
So I speculate the person who scoops it up does so because of public pressure to pick it up and then when nobody is looking they simply toss the bag?
If I had a dollar for every discarded bag I saw I could retire! Lots of people are doing this, so there must be a common reason?
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I have no idea. That sounds very irresponsible. The only dog I’ve walked is Sadie, and people here pick up after their dogs. I didn’t explain that we leave the poop bag on the ground until we come back. There is no other way to get home, so we pick it up on the return part of the walk. I am sure Rosie’s bag is now back at her house, just as Sadie’s is here at our house.
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This story reminds me of the time Chris and Steve came to our house and tried to bring their (very friendly) dog inside. Oley was having none of it, and the whole time the dog was inside, our sweet kitty hissed and snarled and growled. I thought about putting him in the bedroom but he was so ticked about the dog’s presence I was afraid I would get clawed to ribbons if I tried to pick him up at that moment. So Chris and Steve and Pete and I finally had to sit out on the porch and finish our visit.
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I had no idea a cat would stand up for his rights like that.
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He was definitely protecting his turf.
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About the question: Would you let a green poop bag frighten you?? Probably not…unless I discovered it belonged to Shrek the Ogre. Our little dog Gracie must’ve felt that way when we took her to daughter Carrie’s house. There she met Alyiah, 95 lbs of Rottweiler….who was sweeter than most grandchildren.
Gracie thought she’d put on her intimidation face, growling and snapping. It rarely worked as Gracie was only around 25lbs, and built close to the ground. We knew it wasn’t working because it was the first time we’d ever heard a Rottie laugh!
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I laughed that the rottweiler was sweeter than most grandchildren. And the dog’s laughter! Marvelous story!
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I think of the expression “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.” I was at the Detroit River Wildlife Refuge yesterday. There was significant dog yelping going on as I neared the woods. It turned out a woman walking two pit bulls came face to face with a woman with a smaller (but heavy) dog. The one pit bull attacked the smaller dog, attacking its face, then when the smaller dog moved, it attacked its hip. My former HVAC tech who owns a Wild Birds Unlimited franchise was at the Refuge giving a seminar on how to build your own birdhouse. He heard the noise, rushed over with his bottle of water, doused the pit bull and separated him from the smaller dog. He’s lucky he wasn’t attacked. Soon there was an EMS truck and techs, a full-size fire engine with firemen (???) and the police. Poor dog was limping badly and thankfully I only saw it from the back.
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Wow! That was dramatic!
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I know – the noise sounded like a kennel because lots of dog walkers use the refuge and they were all stirred up and the perp and her pit bulls got away.
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I hope the owner of the pit bulls will stay away for a long time.
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I hope so too – I wish I knew how the little dog fared after the attack. I felt sorry for it and the owner.
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I wish people in our neighborhood used poop bags. I’m tired of cleaning up other peoples dog poop from out yard. When we used to walk Scout and Trooper on the leash we always were on the lookout for other dogs as our dogs would pull and/or lunge at them. At the farm with the dogs off leash it is very different – they sniff each other and run and play together. There might be some growling or and occasional nip but for the most part they get along well.
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I’m glad your dogs can run freely and that they get along well.
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No, lol, it wouldn’t frighten me! But my question is, what terrible thing would happen if Sadie met up close with Rosie? Oh wait, I’m silly, I should go back and read all the comments!
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We really don’t know how the dogs would react if they could reach each other. Since Sadie is not our dog, we don’t feel we have the right to make a decision like that. We don’t know how Rosie’s owners feel, either.
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I see! Well then I certainly agree with being as careful as you’ve been!
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John is home now, and he takes Sadie’s leash when Rosie comes in view. I don’t have to dread walking with Sadie.
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