Vicious neighbor doggies

I've been wanting to go for walks in our neighborhood since we moved here. I'd love to be able to just pop out the front do and go on a little walk. Mike and I talked about it and decided that I would probably be able to do that once we got a dog.


The hesitancy to go on a solo walk is due to the neighborhood in which I live. It's that kind of neighborhood. While we love it here, we're not about to take unnecessary risks, either.


Well, a few days after we got Bella, Mike and I went for a walk together.


And, oh boy, you don't realize how vicious neighbor dogs are when you're in your car. When you walk past them with your little 20lb doggie on a leash...you notice. There are four pit-mixes that live across the street from us. And a dog or two that live behind us. (We're on the tip of a wedge-shaped piece of property.) Our neighbor dogs, despite their breeding, don't seem to pose any immediate threat. They seem to be very friendly with anyone who the owner lets within the gates. Also, they're a little used to Bella. They don't go nuts every time we let her out.


The dogs we see while walking, on the other hand, are a different story. The first day we went up the street towards our downtown area. There were some scary German shepherds and pitts along the way. They were fenced and/or chained. On our way back, there were a few that were just in the street! We immediately turned around and headed in the opposite direction. We didn't know these dogs, and didn't want to risk getting to know them.


On our walk today, there was some big scary black dog that just about jumped his fence. We asked a neighbor if the dog had ever gotten out, and we were told no. I think he could, though, if he really wanted to. He was quite the jumper.


Every single dog we walk past barks his head off. One was an adorable overcompensating chihuahua. There were a couple of really barky yellow labs. But most of the other dogs seem really really mean. Chained up in the dirt and with no love or discipline. And we fear that if they got of their leash, they would probably eat both Bella and me.


So, no solo-walks in our neighborhood. For self-preservation.


Luckily, we're only a few minutes from a nice dog park.