Sophie and Bear, up on the off-leash area just behind our house. One of the main reasons I fell in love with the location of our new house was that immediately out our back gate is a huge dog off-leash area that no one seems to know about. It has a ton of different trails, trees, brush and hills, and the dogs love getting out and running around. Now that Sophie’s 2 years old, she’s happy mostly with sticking close to me and walking by my side, whereas Bear loves to charge ahead, and then sprint back past Sophie and I. He travels about 5 times the distance Sophie does on the walk, but that’s good for a 6 month old pup with boundless energy. We ran into a couple of the ‘regulars’ on the trail, including Parker who is a 1 year old dead ringer for the dog in Turner and Hootch. Bear chased Parker around for a while, and then ran into a couple of other dogs that we see out on the trail fairly regularly. It struck me as we were walking how the dogs are the entire focus of exchanges on the hill, and the owners are pretty much irrelevant in the process. I can tell you how old most of the dogs are, their names, and where they live, but I can’t name many of the owners, and often don’t have the opportunity to introduce myself either. A lot of the time, it just doesn’t occur to any of us since we’re so interested in each other dog’s and talking about our own. No one really cares what you do, or what your story is. I’ve learned a lot about different breeds of dogs, and dogs in general from all the people that have shared with me on the hill. It’s kind of interesting how in day to day life, what you do forms such a standard part of what you talk about, both to strangers and friends. Whereas, when you’re with your dog, it’s more about the dog’s habits and their story. Because Bear has a pretty neat background being a rescue dog from the Dominican Republic, people are always very interested in hearing his story because he has a very unique look. He’s the most friendly dog in any park, bounding along and happy to go and meet new friends any chance he gets. Sophie is much more reserved and timid, and doesn’t stray far from daddy when she’s out in the park, especially when new dogs come to meet her. I can only hope that if I have a daughter, she’ll exhibit the same characteristics. Anyway, as I walked with the dogs tonight, it occurred to me how unique most interactions are with people along the paths, unlike most interactions you have with people in daily life. And it’s kind of refreshing to not talk about work, or what you do, or anything like that. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy walking the dogs so much and get a lot of relaxation from doing it, never mind the health benefits. By the way, this is one of those blog posts I wonder why anyone would want to read, but my very good friend and business partner, Kourosh, assures me there’s got to be someone out there that will read it!]]>