| |
|
 |
Dog Daze in
Carmel
Carmel Bay is a great plate glazed every hue of blue from
sapphire to indigo and teal. A kaleidoscope of striped umbrellas
pierces the virginal sands, rivaled only by patriotic kites
flapping overhead.
It’s Memorial Day and I haven’t seen so many dogs in one place
since I attended the Del Monte Kennel Club’s exhibition at
Pebble Beach 20 years ago.
Things can get a bit dicey when a cadre of canines convenes. As
I descend the beach trail I rubberneck (walk straight through,
in fact) a gathering of officials, a fire truck, an ambulance
and a cop car.
“What’s the cur-fuffle?” I ask an onlooker.
“Seems there was a dog on a leash and another one off leash and
the one on leash attacked the one off leash and sent it to the
vets,” says this unshaven teen in rumpled trousers.
“Figures,” I answer.
I make no amends to dog-lovers. I have a bias. There are good
dogs and there are bad dogs. And while I coo over and pet the
good ones, I have been badly bitten and bruised by the bad ones.
In fact, even sent to emergency rooms to be stitched up from
bites.
Heck, maybe it’s a matter of good dog owners and bad ones. And
heredity. And post traumatic stress (which I have as a result of
being bitten and badly bruised). But dogs can and do kill and
maim and so I have a very healthy respect for their incisors.
But I digress . . .
It is a brilliant day. There is celebration in the air, burgers
on the barbi, and families revel in their extended weekend. And
I can appreciate the joyful barks of freedom from Corgis to a
pair of Irish Setters – their tails red flags as they dash along
the tide.
I think of lost souls, new spangled stars in the heavens, and
end the day paying homage to a dying sun that bleeds its
benediction over humans and canines.
And keep my pepper spray in my pocket, just in case . . . |
|
|
|
