Busy Week In The Park #1 - The Chow Chow Incident

It was a picture perfect day here in the Nation's capital, and I had a holiday for Yom Kippur.  With the Pope in town, I chose to lay low.  The big event of the day?  A walk in the park with Romeo. 

We got there around noon and the place was empty.  As we approached the first bring a trio of young men (18-20ish) came across the bridge.  They were Latino and dressed in sportswear.  All were fit and the stockiest one wore a "wife beater" and had a large furry rust-colored Chowchow.  As they neared he sort of let his dog get closer to Romeo, and I responded in kind because Romeo was wagging his tail.   They went nuzzle to nuzzle and did their friendly sniffing. 

I said, "As long as their tales keep waging, right?"  He acknowledged the comment and let it stand.

Then the guy said, "C'mon.  Let's go," and he gave a little tug to his dogs leash.

And then Romeo just erupted in 6 aggressive barks in 2 seconds.  The young man's dog was stunned and he pulled him back quickly even as I called out "Romeo!" and pulled him back.

The young man made immediate eye contact with me, and the look in his eyes sort of said, "What The Fuck!  You want a piece of this, Papi?!"

One of his buddies said to him, "It's your fault, man.  You said 'c'mon'".  (Blessed are the peacemakers, eh?)

I said, "Sorry." 

Then I looked at Romeo and he was like smelling clover as if nothing had just happened or even better the thing that just happened had nothing to do with him!  What a moock!