Since we walk at exactly the same time every day, we pretty much see the same people almost every day. Today the poor kid with the purple hair stopped us, put her hands on her hips and declared "Milkbones are, like, treats for, like dogs you know." Quite authoritiatively putting to rest any misconceptions I might have had about them being bones made from milk. Sampson, having heard the magic word, immediately sat down and looked right at her. "Well, I don't, like, have any, like, milkbones for him, but - and she giggled - maybe I'll, like, buy some next week." I told her it was OK, she didn't have to, thinking to myself she ought to save up her money to see if they can treat that hair condition.
We stopped to talk to the crossing guard (and Sampson got his milkbone) and he wanted to know all about Sampson. He is a retired K-9 police officer and has a million great stories about his former German Shepard partners and their heroism. We probably could have chatted for an hour. Sampson, however, wanted to move on in search of more milkbones. Since he got three yesterday, he figured we were just getting warmed up.
There's something about Sampson that just draws people to him. He has such a friendly face and the little slight limp let's people know he's a senior citizen. It turns out that we have a LOT of dog owners on our street. Sure enough, one guy that we see getting into his car every morning to go to work came over and said "I see you two every morning lately, mind if I give the old fella a milkbone?" What can I say? Milkbones are OK, but they are not the most nutrious treats a dog can get. "Sure, I said, but please don't feel like you have to give him one every morning, otherwise he''ll make a point of stopping by your house every morning." The guy laughed and he said he knew what I meant.
Tomorrow, I'm going to bring a few of Sampson's organic Flint River Ranch twice baked trout and sweet potato cookies. I'll ask people to give him those instead. I really don't want him filling up before breakfast on the dog equivalent of junk food. Since Sampson is wild about those cookies, I doubt that he will mind.
We also ran into the kids wearing the pants that are way too big for them. "Yo, Yo Navy, Word up" which I believe means "Hi old Navy guy, how ya doing?" although I'm not sure. The Navy reference is because I always wear my US Navy baseball cap on our walks. "What kind of dog is the old dude?" I'm becoming concerned that we're raising a nation of idiots, I mean who doesn't know what a German Shepard is? I told them, but then they started talking in gibberish again and wandered off, so I'm not sure what they said. Friendly kids, but not too bright obviously. I suppose every generation finds a way to drive their parent's nuts.
