Okay, here’s something I’ve been kinda wondering about for a long, long time and I’m hoping this vast network of bloggers, blog-readers and friends, family and acquaintances of bloggers and blog-readers can answer for me.
It’s kind of ridiculous. And I probably shouldn’t even be wasting your time with this. So you can leave now if you want.
Okay, if you’re still here, then here it goes…
As you know, I walk a lot. On my travels, especially my early morning travels, I almost always encounter dogs. Small dogs, medium-sized dogs and big dogs.
Whenever I encounter a big dog something weird happens — well not “whenever” as in always, but most of the time… almost always. The dog will suddenly see me, freeze in his tracks and stare at me like I’m the most absolutely bizarre and completely unfathomable thing he’s ever seen in his entire life.
The faces of these dogs — every one of them – says “total bewilderment” loud and clear. I can see their big doggie brains working furiously, trying to figure something really important out.
Sometimes the dog will cock his head to the right, very, very slowly. Then he’ll cock his head to the left, very, very slowly. His eyes are wide and puzzled. His expression is utter befuddlement. It’s unmistakable.
It’s most strange.
If the owner isn’t paying attention, he’ll try to get the dog to move by tugging on the leash or urging the dog on; but the dog won’t move; won’t take his bewildered eyes off me.
If the owner is paying attention, he gets just as befuddled as his dog, except because of his dog, not because of me. I think.
Sometimes the owner will just laugh. Sometimes he’ll say something like, “What the hell are you doing Fido?”
Sometimes I ask the owner or even the dog what the dog is doing. The owner just shrugs. The dog just keeps staring and looking bewildered. Neither of them have any idea about anything.
Sometimes, if the owner looks chatty, I’ll tell him that big dogs do this to me all the time so he won’t think there’s something wrong with his dog. One dog owner thought his dog looked hypnotized. More than one dog owner has said he’s never seen his dog do that before. And then they look at me quizzically.
None of the dogs have ever made any attempt to approach me. Even when I speak to the dogs, they just stand there and stare.
And they keep staring until I’m out of sight. (Okay, I’m assuming they stop then, but who knows? I turn around every once in a while to see if they’re still staring and they always are. Eventually I can’t see them anymore, so I figure if they can’t see me anymore they stop staring.)
Anyhow, what do you reckon is going on here? What should I do? How do I answer the burning questions behind these poor mutts’ eyes?
I should point out (and perhaps those who know me can back me up) that I do not look or dress in any particularly outlandish manner. I never wear sparklers on my head or strobe lights on my clothing. I don’t walk around juggling cats or dragging silent vacuum cleaners behind me (Because that would be puzzling to a dog, wouldn’t it?) And, as far as I know, no part of me emits high-frequency whistling noises.
Thank you.
PS: I do not have this effect on any other living creature.
XUP 