Dog Walker Tales

A Quirky Column about Dog Walking Adventures in the City of Dog-Owning Love

Chill Dogs

"I like your dog," she said. "She isn't like most Chihuahua’s. She's chill. That's cool."

This laid back artsy girl with a flapper-like hair cut, piercing blue eyes and a blue, cotton dress was standing behind the counter at an extremely chill cafe that serves iced coffee and various cafe accoutrements while paying my friend and his dog, Hannah, the kind of compliment we all want when strolling a hipster Philly neighborhood.

Suddenly, I was checking myself. Am I chill? I wanna be chill.

"Hey, Mike. Am I chill?"

Of course, having to ask if you're chill negates all chilliness. So, yeah, there's a handful of people who'd say, "No way in hell! You're a spaz." Then again there's another handful that'll say, "Yeah. Actually, you're too relaxed. You need someone to light a fire under your ass."

So, I don't know. Guess it depends on who you talk to, what you present to different folks and what people choose to see based on their own level of chilliness.

"I bring my dog Sam in because she'll just lie around and be alright. But I can't bring in my other dog because he'll cry the whole time. He needs constant reassurance that I'm gonna be right here," the cafe girl said.

Funny how dogs are just like people. It dawned on me that chill dogs are okay with space. They're pretty certain everything's gonna be alright and if someone disappears, there'll be another someone else to take that place. It's all good.

Spazzy dogs don't want space. They want to be checked-in with. They need someone to remind them that everything's gonna be alright. And, if someone disappears, they're not sure that there'll be someone else to take that place....and that person probably couldn't be trusted anyway because if you look at the track record, people disappear.

It struck me, though. That chill dogs can, potentially, become spaz dogs. And, spaz dogs can, potentially, become chill dogs. Or, maybe all dogs can have a decent dose of chill and spaz. It all comes down to finding someone who recognizes what levels of spaz and chill exist in dog, compensates for it and works with the dog to balance it all out.

Yeah. Dogs are just like people. Hope we all find someone to chill out our spaz or spaz out our chill.

Photo credit to 3Dom on Flickr.