Well, it’s that time of year when I have to start thinking of new places to walk the dogs. We’ve had a great summer taking them to dog parks and doing managed training walks around neigborhoods where I can anticipate triggers. Now that school is back in session, there are more people everywhere, making more chaotic movements during our walks, and the dog parks will get dark too early to enjoy. Also, I’ve about hit my limit with idiot human behavior at the parks.
Lately, we’ve been encountering some unexpected saboteurs. Deer. Everywhere. The other night we walked around Rob’s parents’ neighborhood and encountered either multiple threesomes of deer, or the same evil deer family that managed to get from one end of the neighborhood to another after we whirled around and walked the other direction.
Deer in this region are not afraid of dogs, so we wind up holding the leashes for dear life while Leo and Mia shriek and whine, and the deer refuse to yield their ground. The dogs sound like they’re dying and/or killing each other. We once had a woman open her front door and ask “What’s going on?” while we tried to wrestle the pups past the smug deer just standing there mocking us.
One place we’ve never encountered live deer is Carcass Beach, but as my blog friend Lara predicted, now that I’ve renamed it Dragonwood Beach, it’s not as private as before. We actually had sunbathers in our way during our walk last week. Still preferable to carcasses, and we still enjoyed the view.
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Kari Neumeyer 
Hi there!
It’ll soon be autumn! 🙂
sumskersandearlskers13.blogspot.com
Rob is sad about it, but I keep reminding him how many fun things happen between October and January. He can be sad in February.
I suspect evil deer of stalking me on occasion. They may look cute, but I think they want us gone from their property.
I used to be a deer apologist, but no more! I wish they’d stay out of our way!
I had no idea deer could be such jerks. I am glad our summer is slowly going away. While Blueberry loves the park (people, not dog) – I only take her there in the summer because it offers shade and grass which are preferable to the unshaded hot desert. I cannot stand the park. It abounds with idiot dog owners and just idiots in general who cannot seem to get their chicken bones, pork ribs, etc in the garbage bins just 2 feet from the picnic table – I guess to express their joy over picnicking they prefer flinging their half eaten meals far and wide. I have to be on high alert when walking in the park. When I notice Blueberry’s ears perk up and nose go into overdrive, it’s a race to see if she finds the food before I do.
While the winter visitors will soon be flocking to the trails – I know if I leave early enough and keep an eye out, I can avoid most of them. They aren’t great about picking up after their dogs, but at least the food offerings on the trail are at a minimum compared to the park.
People are the worst!
The deer in our area are pretty comfortable being around people and dogs too. Sometimes I have to look first before letting Haley outside to make sure there are none in the yard. Of course, once deer hunting season starts they tend to hide a little more.
Oh my goodness, I’m so glad we don’t have to deal with wild animals on our walks! Dealing with the idiot humans and the loose dogs is bad enough!
Weirdly enough, I’m finding the streets more empty now that school is in session. Mr. N has never seen deer before. He would go nuts probably.
Oh, deer are out nemeses, too. But the paths where we used to see them regularly have been closed for refurbishment for months, so we haven’t seen one in a while. I’m going to guess that absence will have made Nala’s heart grow fonder, unfortunately for the human clinging desperately to her leash. And the deer here just strut boldly across the path while Nala pitches a fit. Sigh.
It’s still brutally hot here. The title of this post makes me wistful–I *wish* summer would just expire already!
Deer and rabbits are both out in full force this year. I think the hot weather gave them an extra boost and now they are going strong! I agree that they make walls challenging!