Have you ever seen an unleashed dog walking the sidewalk with all the authority of any other morning commuter? Your first thought will be to scan around for the owner. A dog without a leash is totally common in this neighborhood, but you’ll want to see any manner of upright individuals minding their ward in this case. Responsible or negligent, it wouldn’t matter, so long as someone drew a dotted line from a distance. You will look around for anyone keeping the same pace.
Then you’ll look for someone trailing behind, hoping to sense someone on the same parallel trajectory, no matter how far back. Or to see someone far up ahead, slowing their pace, casting a cold eye over their shoulder, eventually stopping to give a whistle. Failing that, you’ll even look for someone that matches the dog in style and stature. The pug faced lady, the shaggy brindle hippy, the lanky dover-black suited man. But there is no one tending to this hubristic hound, as he carves a parted sea through indifferent morning walkers.
A dog unleashed is one thing. Unattended? Slightly unsettling, you decide as you shift your weight around a cafe patio chair. Even if this quirky little quadruped had paused to sniff a post, lift a leg, or linger a bit with a cocked ear to all the bustle of the waking day, you could dismiss him as a stray. That small bit of pattern recognition would comfort you, remind you that all is working as intended, even if a bit chaotic.
But no, that boxy trotting boxer terrier never breaks his stride. Displaying all the intent and purpose of the rest of the surrounding upright mammals, high stepping their own way to work unattended. And for reasons you’ll never understand, that unnerves you as much as if this conviction driven canine was suited up, walking on two legs himself.
As this pompous pooch makes his way to the end of the path, he pauses with the rest of the people at the large busy pedestrian walk. Paws sure footed, head pressed high, he perches petulant to the prying peers of the passersby, unperturbed in his pursuit.
And when the green man flashes, beckoning the large group to continue on, the vast majority veers to the left, dutifully chartered for their destination of tall office hives looming high overhead. But the untethered dog continues resolutely straight ahead down a quieter, narrower path. Your disquietude shifts from canine to man, as you ponder a new question. Which among these people envied most, if only momentarily, this unbridled vision of liberty, this dog’s day unburdened by the intents of another, free to walk any path unleashed?
Paul Carreo 