So yesterday we finally did take Bo out for his walk, and on the way home, we passed the house of Psycho Dog. Psycho Dog is probably not actually psycho, but he does not like other dogs walking on his street. Every time we pass, we can see him leaping frantically against the front window or scrabbling at the gate, trying to get out and get to Bo. He was running around loose once and actually did come after us and jumped Bo, but we were able to scare him off with the help of a passing guy - he's not human-aggressive, and will back off, at least temporarily, if you yell at him.

This time he broke through a wooden gate and came galloping after us like his tail was on fire. His friend came with him, a female who just seemed excited to be loose. I tried to get Bo out of his way and slipped in the mud (as you may recall, it had been raining) and fell flat on my ass. Psycho Dog leaped on Bo, Bo reciprocated in kind, I'm flailing around in the mud with two large dogs growling and wrassling practically on top of me, Kathy's yelling and trying to pull Psycho Dog off Bo. I yell for help at the top on my lungs because I can't see what's happening, and our next door neighbors run out, and they and Kathy manage to scare Psycho Dog off long enough for me to get up. Psycho Dog & Friend go bouncing off down the street in that "I'M FREE, I'M FREE!" way that dogs do. Our neighbors kept a lookout while we got Bo back in the house.

Bo's fine. I'm fairly sure that Psycho Dog was trying to show the interloper off what he sees as his territory rather than inflict real damage, because in neither of these incidents has Bo come out of it with so much as a scratch, and if PD had really wanted to bite, he certainly had the opportunity. Bo didn't seem cowed or upset by the experience in the slightest - just another exciting adventure in Dogland, as far as he's concerned. However, I pulled a muscle in my leg and am not amused. If I'd been a frail old lady, I could have broken a bone, and if Bo had been a smaller dog, he could have gotten hurt even if PD wasn't necessarily trying to bite in a serious way. So since this was the second time this has happened, I reported it to Animal Control, emphasizing that PD was not aggressive towards humans. I hope that they send someone out to have a stern talk with the owners. :P Both PD & Friend had collars and tags, so their owners can't be completely irresponsible.

Needless to say, we won't be walking down that block with Bo again. The broken gate was boarded up today, but no sense tempting fate.

This morning we took Bo out to Dreamy Draw by way of making up for the truncated walk yesterday, and it was just gorgeous out - we were still getting intermittent showers, and the tops of the hills were covered in clouds. The rain had brought out all the colors in the rocks, and there was a pale green mist of teeny new blades of grass over everything, after only a couple of days of rain. There is nothing that smells better than the desert after a rain; wet creosote is the sweetest scent you can imagine.

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