Oh yes. The dogs and I had another adventure!
I have a few different walking routes through the apartment complex that I use at different times of day. In the early hours of the morning, it’s usually safe to go past the playground — no running kids to get Lally all riled up. During the day, I try to stick to the street side of the complex to avoid kids on skateboards (another trigger for Lally). Late at night, we can walk just about anywhere.
One morning last week, I decided to take a chance and walk by the playground. I had an escape route if there were kids around, but all was quiet. Perfect! The dogs could walk a different way for once — hey, they can get bored, too.
The first apartment we passed on the path had a dog at the patio door — looked kind of like a shiba inu in a creamy color. Pretty dog! The dog barked a few times; mine barked back. We walked on.
The second apartment we passed had a dog at the patio door. A dachshund scrabbled at the patio door, barking. We walked on.
The third apartment we passed had another dachshund at the door. The sliding glass door was open in this apartment — leaving only the screen door between us and the pup. As soon as she saw us, the dog went crazy barking and scrabbling at the screen door. My dogs wanted to bark back, and I tried to hustle them along.
Then I heard a CRASH.
The dachshund had knocked down the screen door and was coming after us, hackles raised and barking for all she was worth. Her owners came running out, trying to grab her. Jazzy the dachshund dodged and weaved and kept on chasing us.
Moose was willing to make a run for it; Lally wanted to stop and bark back at the smaller dog. As I tried to haul them away, Jazzy’s owners grabbed her and headed back inside. I couldn’t believe that the dachshund — who couldn’t have weighed more than 20 pounds — knocked the screen door out of the track to get at us!
A bigger dog, sure. I could believe they have the weight and momentum to do it. But I never thought I’d see the day when a dachshund busted down a door to come after me.