I took my 6 month old lab puppy out for a walk this morning in the pouring rain because he loves it. He got a bit muddy and wet but who cares. When I got home, I cleaned him up. Our day continued as normal. I just got back from our second walk and although it's stopped raining, it's still damp and muddy in places. This is what happened on Walk Number Two:
We are walking on the path and puppy trots onto the grass verge. He's sniffing around and generally being a dog. Power walking up behind us was a lady (mid sixties perhaps) with a grey bob, Dame Edna style glasses, a leather and (faux?) fur coat, a leather mini skirt, grey and silver polka dot tights and metallic silver shoes. I only describe her appearance to set the scene. On the other end of the rainbow-coloured lead she was holding was an immaculate toy poodle with a diamanté studded collar and topiary style fur. As she approached, my puppy threw himself onto the grass and rolled in a small patch of mud, then sat up looking really pleased with himself. Often when you're out walking a dog, as many of you will know, you chat to people/ they chat to you. So I smiled and said jokingly, "You can't take him anywhere!"
She responded in a curt manner with "I do not let him do that," gesturing towards her dog and giving me a dirty look whilst still marching. Then she said "He is very grumpy," regarding her own dog so I replied "We'll let you get past," and sort of stood to the side so my puppy didn't approach her or her dog, all the time it's snarling at us. Then she said, again very snappily, "Yes I think that's for the best, don't you?" and marched on ahead. Not that I have to explain myself to anyone but he only had a smear of mud on him (he's yellow so you can see easily) and I was only being friendly. He also has a lovely temperament and training is going well if I have treats.If someone had said something to me when their dog was doing something dog-like, I would laugh along or contribute. I wouldn't put my judgey pants on which were probably metallic silver.
I laughed it off inside my head but why are some people so rude? I'm not sure who was snappier, her dog or her.
Oh well! Puppy is lying contentedly with clean fur and his tail keeps wagging in his sleep. 