So Herbie is kind of a mean dog. Not like super mean, just protective. He thinks it's his duty to protect the house, which is great. Except that he has on occasion gotten lose and terrorized the neighbors. I think he's been getting better. When he was a young pup he would bite. But I don't think he bites anymore, but he will run after a neighbor and corner them and growl at them.
We used to keep him outside most of the time, but he always finds a way to get loose, no matter what we do. Now he's an inside dog. We got a cat and he now gets along with the cat, and I've noticed a difference in his behavior when I walk him and he sees other dogs. He won't run up and bite other dogs, which used to be a problem, too. Now he actually plays with them. But when it comes to being around our house, even though he's seen these neighbors a million times, he has to bark at them to protect us. Right now he's barking at a big fat cat in our front yard.
I usually take him outside in the morning so he can go potty. Then I walk him everyday around 5 to 6pm. Yesterday (Sunday) I didn't take him outside before I had to leave to go to a ministering interview. I asked my wife to do it, and she let him out back, but didn't watch him. So he squeezed through the pool fence and went and opened the RV gate. Then he apparently went and barked at our neighbor.
We haven't had a good relationship with this neighbor. He's always so grumpy. I think he doesn't like us because he keeps his front yard so nice and groomed, and ours isn't as nice. Plus we have like 15 vehicles parked out front all the time. One time, a couple of years ago, Emily and my wife were late getting ready for church. My wife jumped in the shower real quick and in that time, Emily decided she needed to go for a walk to find the rest of us. Our neighbor saw her walk off. Then when Vickie was trying to find her, she ran outside, ran around the yard, and got in the van. My neighbor saw her doing this. Vickie found Emily down the street not too far away from the Canal. What kind of jerk sees a kid with Down Syndrome walk off alone and doesn't say anything? His excuse was that in today's age, if you approach a kid, you get labeled as a pedophile. I ended up having a talk with him, and that's been the extent of our relationship.
Up until yesterday when he started yelling at me about my dog. Look, I get it. I would be mad, too, if my neighbor's dog got loose and terrorized the neighborhood. So the first words out of my mouth were - I'm sorry. But he just proceeded to yell, cuss, and berate me. And I have my breaking point. He has the right to be mad. But he does not have the right to berate and to go on and on and on. So we started arguing and he called me stupid, and I told him to call me it again. He did, and then dared me to come on his property. I told him to meet me out in the street. He wouldn't, but if he would have, there would have been fisticuffs.
I feel like there's been a number of instances like this in my life lately that have escalated beyond what they should have. Is it me? Has my attitude changed? Has my demeanor changed? Maybe. I feel the same. But I haven't been studying scripture as often as I should. I haven't been attending the temple as often as I should. There's a number of things on a spiritual level that I need to get back to doing on a routine basis. What would Christ do in this situation? Turn His other cheek and let it get smote, also? That's the difference between me and Christ. I'm not there yet. But I need to get there. I need to learn to forgive. I do forgive, but I don't forget.
Anyway, enough of that. I ran 3 loops this morning. When I was coming back toward Adobe I saw someone in the dark wearing a beanie with a headlamp. I was pretty sure it was my wife, but it was too dark to know for sure. So I texted her and it was. She usually stays on the main streets. I realized that if I was doing 3 loops, I might see her again at University. Sure enough, when I was heading north and crossed University, I could see her light about an eighth of a mile down the road. She's getting faster.
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