07/21/2026
This picture has nothing to do with this post... but I needed to share a picture that would help calm me down. Moo damn near gave me a heart attack tonight... and it was 100% my fault.
When I take the pups out individually for their walks, I don't lock the apartment door behind me. I just pull on it firmly, wait for the "click" that the door frame catchy thing is in place and off we go!
I had taken Leo out for his potty walk and since it was going to just be a quick dash out and back in again... I propped open the door located at the bottom of the interior staircase that leads to the
5 upper units. Everyone in the building with dogs has done it... it's almost like an unspoken note of "Hey, there's someone else with a dog outside!"
Leo and I go out, and we head to the left, towards the parking lot where there's a tiny pinch more light than going around the side of the building. We walk about 2 minutes, Leo pees and when we turn around to head back, I see someone with a medium/larger dog walking towards us. It almost looked like a golden retriever type dog. I didn't want any problems so I U-turn and Leo and I keep walking, but further away from our entrance door.
After a few minutes, we hit a corner and Leo and I head to the right a bit and the other person and their dog end up going to the left. Yay! Leo forgot about them as soon as we had turned around originally and never noticed them after that. Good boy!
So I U-turn once again and start to walk back to the apartment door.
As we get closer to the building, where it's a bit more dark, I see another medium/large dog come around from what looks like the back side of the building. And again, it has a golden retriever look to it, but it's dark and I'm not really sure. I keep expecting to see it's owner walk out behind it. Nope.
Is it the same dog / owner and did they just walk around the building and now we're meeting up again? And where is the owner? And why is that dog walking towards us??
Leo isn't a fan of strange dogs so I'm gradually getting a firmer grip on his leash... fully expecting him to start lunging any second at this dog that just keeps on coming towards us... WTH?
Until the light on the side of the building hits it... HOLY S**T!! IT'S MOO!!!! What the hell is going on??
No wonder Leo isn't barking..... no wonder the dog kep walking towards us without a care in the world.
Now, I've got two dogs and only one leash and I have NO idea if Moo is going to continue to walk with us or will her nose lead her astray? It's 10pm... she doesn't have a collar or leash on. What if she bolts? What if they both see a critter and then start to fight each other... or lunge after it?
I calmly call Moo closer and wrap the handle end of the leash around her neck and hold it closed with one hand... while trying to give Leo enough room on this "real" end of the leash.
Now I have to get them back to the apartment.....again.. holy s**t!
Thankfully, it works... both dogs are surprizingly calm while walking RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER... and as soon as we're inside that lower door, I slam it shut behind me and we head up the stairs.
Yup... there's the apartment door just barely open. I'm guessing that the strong winds that were coming in from the patio doors blew it open and Moo decided to take a little stroll by herself.
You can bet your last dollar that I will ALWAYS ALWAYS lock that door behind me again no matter how long or short I think I'll be gone.
But I am SO freaking proud of both of them for how well they walked together without any horseplay, arguing or bantering with each other... like they knew the focus of the walk at that point was just to get home safetly. And we did.... whew.
