Standoff
We had a standoff this morning – 18 year old dog on one side of the street and a young looking, very frisky fox on the other side of the street. The DGD (that’s dad gum dog) had sniffed her way down from the front porch along the edge of the grass to the far corner of the yard. The fox had emerged from the trees and shrubs across the street, and she kept going back and forth into one of the bushes to rub her back and then back down to the street.
Seeing the standoff, I momentarily paused wondering if I should get my shoes on or rush down to the sidewalk in my socks and get between the two animals. I decided to do the right thing and quickly rushed to that intervening position. It was 20 degrees outside; the sidewalk was damp from a mist that hung in the air; and I had a hole in my sock. My feet were freezing within seconds of getting outside, but I did indeed achieve the desired mid-ground between the two now staring beasts (ok…”beasts” is a stretch because our dog certainly wasn’t going to fight and the fox looked like it just wanted to play).
When I got there, I turned and faced the fox, and it stood there and stared at me. So what began as a standoff between the DGD and a playful fox quickly became instead a standoff between that same playful fox and me. And I was in no mood to play. And my toes were going numb.
The DGD went about her morning ritual to sniff her way to that perfect spot to leave her load, and that fox after about a minute decided I was no fun and ran gleefully back into the trees.
In hindsight, there are two things I should have realized before scurrying down to protect the DGD:
(1) there is no way this dog would have been considered a threat or a plaything to that fox
(2) if indeed that fox did cross the street, one sniff or one nip of the dog and the fox would have scampered away howling
So lesson learned.
Next time wear socks without holes in them.