The Lady with the Dog Biscuits

One morning, having almost arrived at my turning point, I saw a huge yellow lab bounding down the road toward me, barking and furiously wagging his tail. I froze in a panic. Why isn’t that dog on a leash? He must have escaped from somewhere. What’ll I do? Should I run? I stood perfectly still, gritting my teeth in fear, and waited for whatever would come.

Just then a man came running out of the driveway at the end of the road, calling to the dog. S/he turned to look at him, but made no effort to obey. “She won’t hurt you” he called, “but look out! She’s coming in hot!” With tail wagging furiously, she ran toward me, jumped up landing her front paws on my chest, pushing me backwards while licking my face. I barely managed to keep my balance and relaxed. The dog was friendly. Seconds later, the man reached us, apologized and grabbed her by the collar. “She’s only five months old and she’s not really trained yet” he said. “Her name is Aspen” and with that, he turned around and led her back to the house.

Weeks went by and I continued my morning walks without incident. Each day when I reached the house at the end of the road, Aspen began barking at me. She was always outside on the front porch, which was surrounded by a four foot high fence, unleashed. Standing up on her hind feet, front paws resting on the top rail, she greeted me with her barking and wagging tail. I’d stop in delight, call to her, wave and grin. One morning a woman came out of the house, saw me and called “she barks at you every morning. It’s like she waits for you. She’s so excited to see you.” We shared introductions; her name was Vicky, and I apologized for being the cause of so much noise. Nevertheless, Aspen continued her daily behaviour and I continued mine.

One day, when I had almost reached the end of the road and Aspen’s house, I was surprised to hear her start barking when I knew I hadn’t yet reached her line of sight. Maybe she was barking at something else, I wondered. Suddenly, there was Aspen, bounding down the wood lot hill behind their house. I stayed back from her this time, so she couldn’t jump up and knock me over, while expecting her master to appear. Her tail wagging furiously, she ran around me in circles while barking. I played with her for a minute and after a bit, seeing no master, I tried to walk her back up the hill into the woodlot, assuming he was working up there. As soon as I got her to the top of the hill and turned to go back down to the road, she began barking again and chasing me for more play.