street gang

who let them out?

lately there's this pack of little wild dogs that have banded together to run my street.  they're like little dog versions of huck finn and his gang.  hooligan dogs.  they're chiuauas, i think, but i'm never sure about dog kinds.  i don't care for dogs much.

usually sometime every afternoon, all the dogs in the neighborhood lend their voices to a communal song where they all bay together consistently for five or ten minutes.  i'm pretty sure the wild little gang must start it- taunting all the owned dogs leashed up or stuck indoors.  anyway, who knows what starts or stops it, it happens all the time.

the other night, the little gang started up in the middle of the night.  it woke me up straight out of sleep.  i knew it was only the gang- there weren't nearly as many voices.  the owned dogs knew better, i'm sure (and by knew better, i mean faced consequences).  i sat there wondering what the little hooligans could possibly be announcing.  had the little shits fulfilled some hunting dog fantasy and treed a raccoon?  were they in heat and baying late night heartsick poetry?  were they trying to warn us all of impending doom?

it went on for quite a while.  then there was the sound of a door or window opening and a few loud cracks- bangs- whacks- somethings.  in my 3 am stupor i was pretty sure one of the neighbors had shot the gang.  no warning- just shut them up with bullets.  the baying stopped completely.

but today i saw the little bandits again.  happy as larks.  peeing on everything and sniffing the whole world and having no idea that anyone in the world feels sympathy or annoyance toward them.

do they know they are free?  do they know they are miserable?

also, what did dogs evolve from?  are they very tame wolves and coyotes, just like my cats are very tame leopards and panthers?  humans like to tame things and shrink things into forms they can control.  economy sized wilderness.  comes with a carrier.

did animal breeders hundreds of years ago anticipate the huck finn chiuauas of the world?

 i saw an animal rescue commercial the other day that had the mission of bringing about the day when every animal would have a home. really?  is that really even conceivable?  have they been to my block?

there's no moral of this story.  i just told myself i was going to write a little each day.  the hooligans seemed as good an observation as any.

carry on.