it’s been a year without the little kielbasa in our lives. i still think of him daily, still miss his sausagey body and stubby little legs, his gentle kisses and his skippy little walk. baxter never really figured out that the best way to avoid the attention of all the big dogs we would encounter on our walkies was to be quiet. instead, as soon as he spied the giant predators that he wished would avoid him, tiny chumley would bark, loudly proclaiming for all who could hear that they should stay away from him, and inevitably drawing the exact attention he wished to avoid. major barking from both parties would ensue as each dog continued on their way, the peace in the neighborhood throughly disturbed.
there was only one dog on our walkies route that baxter knew better than to do this with. medium size bolt was a ninja in his own backyard, racing out of nowhere to surprise and aggressively bark at passersby along the entire fence line that separated his domain from the greenway. needless to say, an ambushed baxter would also bark his little head off, and there was nothing we could do except rush our tiny wolf along, getting him to run with us until we hit the bridge that marked the end of bolt’s territory. this happened every time we took that route, until the day baxter decided to take preemptive measures. that day, as we walked down the sloping pathway that would lead us past bolt’s house, i noticed he had his tiny hackles faintly raised. and then, a few steps later, as soon as we hit the corner of bolt’s fence, before bolt even knew we were there, baxter started to run. his shorty legs propelled him at full speed until we hit the bridge. every time we took that path after that, every time we hit that fence corner, baxter would start running, sometimes letting out a nyah nyah bark or two midway, but never stopping til we hit the bridge. smell ya never, bolt. ninja problem solved.
today was laundry day for a lot of harnesses we used for those walkies. what a good little boy he was. ❤️
