The Neighborhood Watch group that black people (and pet owners) don't need
Just because you don't recognize the black people in the neighborhood doesn't mean we don't live here
A couple of years ago, I created a “daily goal” list on Google Tasks with 11 to-dos. Of those 11, there are daily tasks such as “drink a minimum of 16 oz of water per day” and “lift your 25 lb weights for five minutes.” I will not go to sleep until all 11 are done. (There have been a few days when I spent my evenings finishing them all.)
But when I complete my morning walk with my dog, there are a handful that I can knock out before I return home:
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Before I step foot back into my door, these three are usually done. If I finish early, I’ll often keep a book in my dog-walking bag so I can read a few pages. It makes the time go by fast for someone like me who is not a morning person — at all. While I walk, I often see other pet owners walking their dogs at the same time, along with a few morning walkers and joggers.
There’s one older, white guy who I see almost daily, and I always stop to smile at him and exchange a few words. One day, he saw me reading a book and said, “It’s so rare to see someone with a book instead of an electric device.”
I laughed. I’ve been reading and walking since my childhood days when I was devouring Babysitter’s Club book. If it was about Jessica or Claudia, I was definitely flying through that book faster than the other babysitters.
By me reading books and walking for the past three of four decades, I’m perplexed by all these cell phone walkers falling down, running into poles and fountains, and walking into the street. Practice makes perfect, I guess, because I can do both, keep an eye on my dog and wave at familiar faces.
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Don’t watch me, I’m walking
This morning walk routine happens so smoothly that I rarely think much of it — whether it’s a book in my hand or my electronic to-do list. That is, until a week ago. Mid-task (and with my book still on my nightstand), I noticed a lady freeze in the middle of the sidewalk with her two dogs and hurried to stand in a nearby lawn.
My own dog walks by other dogs without missing a beat. If she barks, my “don’t get on my nerves” command (yes, I know dog trainers would huff at that) makes her settle down. As the lady stood in the grass, I moved further away from her, wrapped the padded leash around my hand a little tighter and kept walking.
“My dogs are reactive!” she announced.
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I nodded and kept walking, ready to move on to my next Google Task.
“You should know most dogs in this neighborhood are reactive too,” she continued.
I paused. I stopped walking. It wasn’t that this older, white lady was explaining why she darted to the grass. It was the “in this neighborhood” that bothered me — as if I must be new.
I tried to make an excuse for her at first. I was wearing a T-shirt with a popular dog-walking company’s logo printed in the middle. (I have a collection of T-shirts and headwraps that I keep hooked on my bedroom door. Again, I’m not a morning person. I need to make that morning walk as easy as possible.)
So maybe she thought I drove over to walk someone else’s dog. (Do you assume everybody wearing a football or basketball jersey must be on the NFL and NBA team? Probably not.) But the T-shirt still didn’t explain the unsolicited advice. While wearing this popular brand, what would be the point of telling a dog walker how to walk dogs — never mind a woman who has walked 99 dogs and completed 598 walks in the past five years.
“I own my home, and I have lived in this neighborhood for several years,” I responded, tightly.
“Well, I’m just trying to help you,” she replied.
That did it! I had time today! I turned completely around.