Dog days of summer

Just when I thought I had seen all forms of maltreatment of dogs here in Durham…

Hubby and I were on our morning walk with Paxton the dog this morning. During these humid mornings we encounter dogs in many forms, shapes and sizes. They all have one thing in common and that is their ability and willingness to bark at us.

There is one dog in particular that lives about a half-mile away from us. He has black and brown shaggy hair and is quite cute. He is also still just a young thing, as we noted his arrival as a puppy only 4 months ago.

When he was just a puppy, his owners allowed him to stay outside unattended on the front porch. As we’d walk by in the mornings, he would dart out into the middle of the road into oncoming traffic, terrifying me to no end. It was a very dangerous situation.

Then his owners got the bright idea to allow him into their air conditioned home, or at least I assume so because hubby nor I nor Paxton saw him for a period of time.

This morning he was back outside. Only, he did not run out into the street to greet us. He was instead chained up to, not a tree, not a doghouse, but a cinder block. The poor dog’s only company was a lone cinder block in the middle of the hot yard, not even a tree to provide shade.

It’s slowly sinking in that Paxton is pretty darn lucky when it comes to being a dog.