If I could communicate telepathically with Jasper, the dog I
am dog sitting, I imagine he would be singing jaunty little songs about us
being the best of friends. This isn’t a dog-friendly community I live in and
most of the children have not been taught to love dogs, so unfortunately,
Jasper gets taunted regularly on our walks. When this happens, he cries and
hides behind me, but when there are no children around, he resumes the skip in
his step.
Once I sensed trouble before Jasper did. A bunch of children
were loitering outside the Iranian school, but they weren't close enough to
pose much of a threat to Jasper. Knowing what was coming, I tried to warn
Jasper so he would hold his ground when the children started in with their
jeers and taunts. I looked down and spoke in a conspiratorial tone, “Jasper,
when these children try to scare you, I want you to bite them, okay?” Sure
enough, the children started in with their howls and yelling and using their
hands to mimic shooting. Jasper freaked out and hid behind me, as usual.
We went back to my apartment. I tried to take an afternoon
nap and Jasper snuggled up beside me. I told him that he would need to toughen
up, no more being scared of cats or the sound of a plastic bag rustling, and
when I tell you to bite someone, you do it, understand? It took a while for
that to sink in, about as long as it took for me to fall asleep, because he
jolted me awake with a bite on my arm. He was just being playful,
but I banished him from my room and closed the door.
He still acts like a
puppy and is definitely more of a handful than I had expected. Although I must
compliment him on his fashion sense, I’m not happy about what he did after
finding my brand-new shoes. He knocked them down off a high shelf and then chewed
them beyond recognition.
It doesn't do any good to try to avoid the children by walking
Jasper at night. They are out at all hours, playing in the parking lot with no
adult supervision. I think these children never go to bed. Their parents must say
to them, “Okay kids, put on your dark clothing and go play in the parking lot
in the dark. I’ll be inside watching TV.”
Tonight the feral children ran up to Jasper, yelled at him
and then ran away. They made a game of it, but I’m not exactly sure what the
objective was. It was either to see who could get closest to the dog or who
could scare him the most, but thankfully, a woman walked by and I was able to
enlist her help. She yelled at the children in Arabic, something I wish I could
do. Unfortunately, she also scared Jasper,
which is not hard to do. Hopefully, whatever that woman yelled will stop those
kids from harassing poor Jasper. He has
enough problems as it is.
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