A Loose German Shepherd

On a recent walk with Porter and Sadie, we encountered a huge German Shepherd loose in a park. He was beautiful. Exactly what a German Shepherd should look like. Gorgeous conformation and a pleasant expression. But he was loose. And the park was tiny and just feet away from the West Side Highway that runs the length of Manhattan and known for motorists who don't slow down for pedestrians or bicyclists let alone dogs running free.

Instead of walking through the park, we went around it because I didn't want Porter and Sadie's presence to excite the dog and cause a horrible accident. My plan was thwarted, though, when the dog spotted them anyway and trotted out onto the sidewalk to say hi. It would have actually been safer if I'd walked through the park, because now here we were, on a street corner.

Sadie immediately went into a play bow and the German Shepherd got so excited that he jumped out into the street. Luckily, traffic was stopped at a red light and he didn't get hit. Without even removing his earphones, the dog's owner came running out and was able to call the dog back to safety. What a jerk.