Three Old Bitches Take a Walk

I had one of those moments when I realized just how old my dogs are getting. I was down at Riverside Park. The sun was out and Brooke, Cookie and I were doing laps on the paved walking trail. Eventually, we encountered a man with a young border collie. There were the usual sniffed greetings but then the border collie started running around in circles trying to get Brooke or Cookie to chase him. I swear they looked at each other and rolled their eyes. If they could have spoken, I could easily have imagined one of them saying “Mercy! I don’t who let that spazzed out puppy all up in here. I don’t know who he thinks *he* is but I am just too OLD to be chasing around a puppy just because I happen to be hanging out at the park.”

And then they ignored him. He tried to get their attention. He ran around them and followed them as they occupied their attention with more interesting things, like the grass or the sidewalk or a leaf that was blowing by. The more they ignored him, the more he tried to get them to like him. For the first time, I started to understand how the word “bitch” could be an insult. Finally, we just had to continue our walk. Yup, Just three old bitches who are too good for the puppies of the world.