I was compelled to apologize to my neighbor, just before sunrise today.
Going to work at “Oh-dark thirty”, you do not expect to see a guy standing in front of your house. However, most of the neighborhood knows my two dogs by name whether they know me or not. Robert’s garage door opened and he stepped out to his car. There we were: Dexter, Comet and me.
When I got up earlier for the job I held for years, I would walk the dogs about this time. And would see rabbits fairly often. This morning, two were directly in our path, on the street in front of Robert’s home. Though the greyhound in Comet, and the playful (?) Dexter want to chase them, I hold them back. After all, these aren’t pesky gophers which have made many here turn to stones, artificial turf, or worse, untidy lots as front yards. Using the distraction of the driveway encounter, the rabbits tore off into the bushes. I apologized.
Walking on, for the next thirty minutes, we watched neighbor after neighbor get in their cars or service trucks and head to work. I can walk the dogs now at 5 AM, 6 AM, or even as late as 9 AM. Sometimes I still walk them at dawn though. I now work three or as often as five half-days a week. (My spouse and I are in our second year of business together.) I do not mind my neighbors thinking me odd.
It's a Dog's Life 