Can I Take a Picture?
Emma is a rockstar. Everywhere. We realized it the first time we went on a road trip with her. People came up to Emma to pet her. They wanted to pose their children for pictures with her. Here in Saginaw, men in big SUVs blasting music pull over and look at Emma. They want to know, How much does she eat? Does she bark? Is it a lot of work to keep her looking so beautiful? Women in sensible sedans pull over and take pictures of Emma that they text to their friends. Around the corner, a woman, who is generally afraid of dogs, pet Emma. She was charmed by her. We are used to handling Emma’s public at this point (which is partly why it was so shocking when the bigots of Maryland called on Animal Control to put down Emma.)
Tibe has not had such a positive public persona, to make perhaps the understatement of the year. Today, however, was different. It was cold this morning. Only twelve degrees when we all got into the car for our park walk. As an aside, when we walked out the back door this morning, careful of the thin layer of ice that covers the driveway, we smelled a skunk. It doesn’t seem as though the skunk sprayed anything, but the odor was there as we greeted the crisp morning air. Everyday, Tibe and I take a good walk around the park. When there is snow, we walk through the snow. Lately, with over a foot, it is a bit of cardio activity for me, and it even wears out energetic Tibe. After the walk, I put Tibe on the “long lead,” a twenty foot leash that lets him run around, as though he still had a yard, a place to exercise, run, and burn off his energy. When we first arrived in town, I kept blue dragon in the car and would throw that to Tibe on long lead. After six weeks or so, blue dragon was a mere scrap of fabric. I replaced it with purple dragon, an exact replica just in a different color. The extreme cold and thaws along with Tibe’s exuberance for the creature quickly eviscerated it of most stuffing, and purple dragon has only one foot left. So last week, I purchase a big knot toy. It is red and orange. Already, Tibe has started to shred it; little pieces of rope litter the back seat of the car. He loves it, though. I throw it to him on long lead and call exuberantly bring me red rope. Red rope, Tibe, red rope!
We were doing that this morning. Tibe running around in the snow, carrying a raggedy rope, prancing and pouncing, fetching and returning. Then a woman drove up in a new white Impala. I was immediately nervous. This dog is my responsibility; I cannot let anything bad happen again–to him or anyone else. He started to bark even mounted a bit on his back legs. I grabbed the leash. The woman said, Can I take a picture? Your dog is so cute playing in the snow. Tibe cocked his head to the side, shocked. He looked at me as if to say, She wants to take my picture. He was excited and started to pose. She said, He probably smells my ninety-two pound German Shepherd in the back seat. This made me even more nervous. Yet Tibe sat there and posed. She took his photo and drove away. Tibe jumped into the back seat, still preening. He could hardly wait to tell the beloved and Emma: I had my picture taken! The woman thought I was cute. She took my picture!
The beloved and I marveled at how lovely it is to not live with bigots and bullies, at how wonderful it is to have someone recognize the beauty of our little Tibe.
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