“Uh-huh,” I said, barely listening as I tried to get a tighter grip on the leash, but I pulled a little too hard, and Jasper was yanked back by his neck. I was worried that he would be mad and would lunge again, or worse, start growling or snapping, but he seemed to forgive me instantly, just going back to sniffing the ground. I didn’t know how this was going to work with all these dogs, if they’d start to fight with each other or something, but they all seemed pretty well behaved, trotting along in a line. One of them would want to sniff a tree or a rock, and the others would either join in the sniffing or simply sit and wait. Jasper, despite his size, seemed pretty easy to control, responding immediately when I pulled back on the leash.
“Here’s what I was thinking,” Maya said, looking over at me with an easy smile as I glanced up at her briefly before returning all my attention to Jasper. I didn’t understand how she was able to do it—wasn’t this taking all her concentration? She had three dogs in front of her, after all. “We walk them around this loop, and then there’s a little grassy area. It’s not quite a park, but the dogs love it.”
“Actually,” I started, taking a breath to tell her that we should probably wrap this up quickly, since the job wasn’t for me, when all the dogs started barking as one. I looked around, wondering if maybe there was a squirrel or something, when I saw there was another dog and owner coming toward us.
“So, here’s a moment for a lesson!” Maya said brightly, though I could tell there was a tiny bit of stress in her voice. “When you have a bunch of dogs together like this, they kind of form a pack mentality and can sometimes scare the other dog. Everyone’s trying to make friends; they just don’t know the best way to go about it.”
“Okay,” I said, tightening Jasper’s leash around my wrist again, feeling my heart pound when the barking got louder as the other dog got closer. I squinted against the sun, which was right behind the dog and his owner, blurring them out. When they came into view a moment later, though, I realized I knew them—both of them. It was the guy and his runaway dog—Bertie—from two days before.
The guy must have recognized me at the same time, because he smiled and held up his hand to wave—the same hand that was holding his leash. His dog clearly saw his opportunity and took off at a run toward us as the guy grabbed for where the leash had been but only got empty air.
“Okay,” Maya said now, her voice raised over the barking of the dogs, who were going into a frenzy, all of them straining against their leashes, “I’ll try and grab him while you—”
But whatever she’d been about to say was lost as Bertie ran right up to me, barking and tail wagging wildly. He tried to jump up on me, which honestly would have been okay—it would give me an opportunity to try to grab his leash—but Jasper seemed to take this as some kind of threat, because suddenly his bark changed from what had been a hi, other dog! bark to a get the hell away from me and the girl with the leash bark. In between barks, there was now a low growl at the back of his throat, and the other dogs, sensing this, started to bark as well, with a definite note of back off in their voices.
“It’s okay,” I said, trying to put myself between the two dogs while feeling this was really not where I wanted to be. “Just—”
“Andie,” Maya said, and I could hear the anxiety in her voice, even as it was masked by a layer of cheerfulness. “Stay calm and—” Whatever came next was lost in another wave of barking, as she tried to get closer to me while simultaneously holding back her three dogs, who were all straining against their leashes, trying to get closer to the excitement.
I saw the guy finally catch up with his dog, and then everything seemed to happen at once. Bertie jumped up at me again, just as he grabbed the leash to pull his dog back, and Jasper tried to follow. I held on to Jasper’s leash as hard as I could, and he was pulled back, making a kind of gagging cough sound, and I silently apologized to him while I wobbled on my heels but managed to regain my balance, thrilled that I’d somehow remained upright. I looked over and saw that the guy was not so lucky—he was on the ground, trying to push himself up to standing, while his dog made matters worse, running in circles around his feet and tangling the leash even further. All the dogs were barking like crazy now, though I was relieved to hear it was back to happy excitement barking and not angry, territorial barking.