Only Fools Go Where Dogs Fear to Tread.

[RobMancebo]

Only Fools Go Where Dogs Fear to Tread. 

by Rob Mancebo

I had an acquaintance who’d grown up in Colorado.  As a boy (decades ago) he went outside one morning because his dog was raising a fuss.  The dog was very excited about their detached garage.  He kept barking and barking but, even though the man-door was open, he wouldn’t venture in.  He just circled the door, barking. 

Now, those people with dogs can tell you, usually if your dog is barking at something but won’t go in after it, you shouldn’t either.  (That is unless you have pug dogs like I do who only guard you from invisible goblins and don’t sink their teeth into anything that isn’t in their food bowl.)   He was young though.  He pushed the dog out of the way and started to go into the garage.  At which point an older, wiser person took over. 

He heard a call of, “Hey!” and an old Indian climbed on down from where he’d been sitting, watching the garage from atop the house’s roof.  Although he really didn’t know the man, he recognized him as a well-known local character.  He was known as a ‘chief’ from a local tribe.
 
The man warned him not to go into the garage.  When he asked why, the old fellow just told him to put his dog away.  When he did, the Indian walked around and threw open the big car-door of the garage.  He stood well away as a mountain lion took off out of the garage and ran away down the street.
 
It seemed that the old man had seen the lion wander into town about first light.  He didn’t impede its exploration of urban street life, but he’d been trailing it to make sure it didn’t hurt anyone.