I have had many encounters with dogs on stream. Most have been pleasant. I had another on Sunday that was interesting. I was gearing up roadside and there was a house about 30 yards away. I heard a dog barking so I called out to it. I did my standard here puppy....puppy....I do this to assess the situation so I don't end up bitten.
The white lab came to the road and barked really loud at me. I was uncertain whether this was an aggressive dog so I went down to one knee and called come here sweetie. The dog seemed to calm down a little and came part way across the road. It then went on the other side of my car in the road.
I am a dog lover and it made me worry about the dog being in the road and maybe getting hit by a car because I called it. I called some more thinking it would come and get out of the road. It stopped barking and I could not see it anymore. I was still kneeling so I tied my boots and adjusted my gravel guards.
I thought about the quiet dog and worried about standing up abruptly and getting bitten. That worry went away quickly. The female lab had come around behind me. She was very quiet. The way I found out she was there was by her shoving her nose in my bent over behind and sniffing me. I was scared at first because she was so close and I had not evaluated her body language yet. I let her do her sniffing and then did the come here sweetie call and she came to hand and I petted her. She followed me on stream for an hour and then went home.
