smell something sweet and sticky on the sidewalk and I ate it quickly, crunching on some dry bread lying next to it. What a nice place, to leave such treats out for a deserving dog.
My empty stomach kept me focused on finding a meal despite my need to Go Home. I tracked aromas, hoping I would stumble upon more sidewalk treats.
I caught whiffs of many dogs, usually separated from one another, and I heard barking and saw a dog on a chain, but then I changed course because I sensed several canines moving together. I made my way toward them, and when I rounded a corner, I came upon a pack.
There were two males, both very dark in color, one large and one small, plus a short female with long fur. They were sitting behind a store from which poured a delicious bouquet, staring at it intently, but when they felt my approach they whipped their heads around.
Small Male ran straight at me, then pulled up, raising his snout as he stopped. I turned and we sniffed each other. Big Male also examined behind my tail. I moved rigidly, not prepared to play bow with two males on either side of me, but wagging a friendly greeting. Big Male lifted his leg on a post and Small Male followed suit and I politely appraised their marks, noticing that the female had not moved from the back door of that store.
Small Male play bowed and we wrestled for a moment while Big Male continued to mark, and then Big Male trotted over to us and we stopped playing because his presence changed the situation.
When the back door opened, a cloud of cooking meat poured out and I saw a woman standing on the threshold. “Hello, pretty dogs!” she sang.
The males ran over to the woman’s feet to sit, so I followed suit, though I held back a little, careful not to crowd the other dogs. I was unsure what was about to happen. I could sense the female canine tensing at my presence but her eyes were focused on the woman, who had a wonderfully greasy paper in her hands. The paper rustled and gave off succulent aromas as she reached in with her fingers and plucked out fatty pieces of cooked beef. Starting with the female, she went down the row of dogs, handing each of us a large chunk. All of us were licking our lips in anticipation, scarcely able to contain our excitement. “Are you a new friend? What’s your name?” she asked as she extended me a delectable slice. I daintily lifted the treat from her fingers, chewing quickly so none of the other dogs would try to take it away from me.
“That’s all I have tonight, lovies. Be good dogs!”
The woman shut the door. We all sniffed the ground to see if any of us had dribbled any morsels. Female came up and investigated me suspiciously, and Small Male bowed, wagging. We milled around for a moment, appreciating the meat scents on each other’s lips, and then the pack moved on. I was part of it, so I followed. It was good to be with other dogs.
We were walking down a narrow street behind the buildings. There were no cars, though there were several large metal containers that clearly contained scraps of edible things I would have liked to explore, but the pack didn’t pause other than when the males lifted their legs to mark.
We eventually stopped at a square plastic bin from which rose a riot of enticing odors. Big Male was able to knock the lid off of it, and I inhaled deeply, hungrily aware of cheese and grease and sweets.
Female then astounded me by leaping nimbly off the ground, her rear paws scrabbling on the sides of the barrel while her snout dug inside. She fell back, pulling a box with her from which spilled meats wrapped in bread. Each dog pulled out a meal, darting away from the pack to quickly finish it off. Mine was wrapped in plastic but when I tore into it there was food coated with a tangy, bitter sauce that made me sneeze.
Several times Female dove for more paper. Sometimes what she dragged out had no value—little pieces of vegetables, or more of the tangy sauce—but a few times there was more to eat. I was the youngest so I shied back, not thrusting my head forward when the two males dove on what Female had extracted,