My revenge

Today I walked Mac on our usual route through San Marino. One of the houses we walk by has a dog who runs to the fence (behind the house, the place is enormous) and lunges at Mac while growling and barking fiercely. Of course my little pacificist is thrilled by this and returns the favor. I keep walking and then pull Mac away once I'm past the corner.

I think Mac's behavior is obnoxious, and I don't like it. However, I don't feel like getting my arm pulled out of my socket trying to prevent it, and I think it's fairly reasonable behavior given the circumstances. I had a brainstorm the other day on a way to handle it. Today the dog ran up to us and started barking. This barking/menacing is something that would leave me piss-less if I wasn't separated from the dog by a big fence. Anyway, the dog had gotten about one and a half barks out when I squirted him with my water bottle. Complete silence followed from him, and from Mac when I squirted him next. Wonderful. Deeply satisfying. Thank you Carlos Hilson, Mac's former dog walker extraordinaire. I'll be curious to see what happens the next time we walk by. If the dog is smart, he'll take to barking a few feet back from the fence.