Like the Streets of Wenatchee

I woke up this morning thinking about how there is a vacant spot on our bed. I was remembering the time I was in Wenatchee, WA with my daughter and our dogs. We were on a road trip to my niece’s wedding in Pateros, Washington. We were looking for a place to eat that was dog friendly, but it was difficult to find one. We decided to leave our dogs in the car. I hate doing that, but sometimes the world makes you do things you don’t like. Right?

We opted for a quiet, but interesting looking, Mexican food restaurant. I wish I could remember the name of it. To this day I remember it being one of the best Mexican restaurants I’ve ever enjoyed. Why we chose this restaurant was because there weren’t very many cars in the parking lot. That made it convenient for us to keep an eye on the dogs from our table.

It was never easy to leave the dogs in the car. Hardy was the biggest baby when he was left behind. He would commence howling as soon as we walked away, and then Chico would chime in – if he was there. It was always loud and embarrassing, and people’s reactions to the howling were mixed. Some folks thought it was funny (obviously dog owners themselves), and some folks would remark about how hot it was, or ask us was the window cracked, or did they need some water, or something “responsible,” as if they knew better. I hated those people. The truth was our dogs LOVED being in the car. It was like our “den.” But they would howl, just the same.

That memory, of the dinner stop in Wenatchee, reminded me of how that place was NOT very dog friendly. The town wasn’t easy to navigate either. The roads were really confusing, with lots of one-way streets that didn’t make much sense. They gave the driver a sense of being lost – a feeling that has become all too common for me these days. Like the streets in Wenatchee, my days are difficult to navigate, nothing makes much sense, and I feel lost most of the time.

I’ve heard it said that dogs howl for an instinctual reason when their owner leaves. It’s an innate behavior that is linked to communication within a pack. In the dog’s mind, the owner is thought to be the pack leader, and a howling dog, or group of dogs, make their location easier to find upon the pack leader’s return. It’s a type of long-range communication, like the “twilight bark” in 101 Dalmatians.

The video below features kikikyami performing the voice of Perdita. I really like her vocal inflection here. Props kikikyami.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGGV0uI-24Y&NR=1