Dogs in Oz

Angel sneaks a peek into our bedroom window early one morning.

Ben walks along the beach after a quick dip and a roll in the sand.

I've had a couple of unexpected run-in's with dogs on this trip that weren't pleasant. As a result, I have a hole in a pair of shorts from an attempted bite and a pair of mangled Bolle' sunglasses. The hole was a result of a large dog named Chase who belongs to Jonnene's cousin, Christine. We had visited their house the same time we went out to see her aunt and uncle. I was the only male at the cousin's house and Uncle Bev had warned me about Chase earlier, that the dog was aggressive and had bitten a neighbor. I wasn't that worried about it and was confident that I could handle the situation, simply by ignoring the dog and staying away from it when possible. When we arrive, Chase is barking like crazy and spinning in circles behind the fence...a very anxious dog....not a good sign. And he's pretty big. So we go in the house, visit a bit and go out the back to see Christine's beautiful back yard. Chase comes up to me and tries to "herd" me away from the ladies in the group. I ignored him and walked by him, and once we're in the yard everything was fine. He did show signs of claiming space so he was definitely territorial but pretty much left us alone and even played. Then we walked back to the house and suddenly he was trying to separate me out again. But he seemed friendlier this time and I stopped to pet him. Initially it seemed to be going good but I saw the demeanor in his face change and he started to growl. I stopped touching him, stood up and started to walk away. He didn't like that, I guess, and went behind me and took a bite of my shorts, probably trying to bite me directly. The nice thing was that the shorts are baggy and he didn't come close to my hind quarters at all. But he put a nice hole in my shorts...it was a bite meant to do damage and it did. Since he belonged to someone else and he hadn't actually bitten ME, I yelled at him and he backed off a bit. I told Jonnene what happened and she relayed the message to everyone else. Christine moved the dog away (probably not the right thing to do because it doesn't teach the dog anything) and we went inside to inspect the new redesign of my shorts. Christine was mortified but I told her it was okay, no harm was done. However, I do wish I had come back at the dog and showed it that it didn't own the space it was protecting. I wouldn't have hit it but I would have come back at it to show who was dominating who.

Then there's Angel, my sister-in-law's new dog which is a Kelpie mix. Actually a very nice dog but energetic, anxious, and has a few habits that it'll either grow out of or will have to be dealt with. But she's sneaky and we learned to keep doors closed to keep her from taking things that don't belong to her. She'll take things outside, chew them up, bury them, or hide them somewhere. In a way, it's funny but not all the time. Well, she managed to get hold of my Bolle' sunglasses with the prescription lens insert...somehow she managed to sneak into our bedroom without anyone noticing. We came home from an errand and Raelene found the glasses with the earpieces totally chewed up but, fortunately, my lens were shaken loose and were in pretty good shape. I'll just have to order a new pair of frames when I get home and things will be fine. But now we're keeping an even closer eye on Angel.

Fortunately I've had some better experiences with dogs on this trip. We got to see Sophie's old playmate, Ben, this past Sunday. He's a few years older with two new hips but still has a playful disposition and doesn't sit still for long. I met Ben on my very first trip to Australia in 2003 and he's always been a friendly dog. You show him some affection and you've got a friend for life. It's always something to see when he meets Jonnene...he sniffs her, realizes who it is, and immediately begins looking around for Sophie. Alas, Sophie's in the States and the two former playmates never see each other again. It really makes you sad but that's how it goes.