It\u2019s amazing round here just how many people have dogs, and just how many dogs are loose and threatening.\u00a0 It\u2019s almost impossible to walk around the block without some dog barking and charging towards you at some point.\u00a0\u00a0 The only way to deal with them is to confront them I think \u2013 they are mostly very scared dogs by my reckoning.\u00a0 For example I have 3 neighbours and they have about 5 dogs between them.\u00a0 They all bark if you walk out on the driveway.\u00a0 They all bark at anything that passes \u2018their\u2019 house on foot, or on bike, r in car, or on rollerskate.\u00a0 They bark at children, for fuck\u2019s sake!\u00a0 Of course their owner\u2019s bark at them to back off most of the time, but this is strictly necessary because every passer-by (even the children) know that the dog\u2019s are pathetic hounds that are scared of just about everything.\u00a0 My neighbour\u2019s dog barks at me because I happen to go out to my van, but it won\u2019t try and make friends with me.\u00a0 And when I run at it barking and waving my fist it runs away whimpering like all the dogs seem to do round here when you try to approach them.\u00a0 I\u2019ve not met one yet that will let you approach it.<\/p>\n
Expect for this evening when I was on my bike \u00a0and\u00a0 I rode past a particular doggy spot where I usually get barked and charged at.\u00a0 Tonight, not much reaction though and I rode on for about a quarter of a mile to stop and admire the view and take in the peacefulness.<\/p>\n
It was then that I could heat a quick thud-thud-thud sound on the road behind me.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know what to make of it at first (it was almost graceful like reindeer, or an antelope), but no \u2013 I turned to look and it was a vicious looking rottweiller from the farm that I had passed some minutes back.\u00a0 It had been running fast and seemed to be pursuing<\/em> me, as if I was quarry, and at first I was worried.<\/p>\n But seeing as though I couldn\u2019t really escape, and knowing that most of these dogs are cowards, I took a gamble and shouted at it \u201cHello Boy\u201d, as if I was an old friend and was multi-lingual.\u00a0 I put my hand down to stroke it and \u2013 bizarrely \u2013 it let me stroke it.\u00a0 This is the first dog that\u2019s let me get near enough to stroke in France and the first one that seems to have understood English.<\/p>\n The right time to find it, too.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.splunge.co.uk\/richnilk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/CIMG3527-Large.jpg\" "\\"CIMG3527")
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