The friend's cousin went hunting at the back of our properties.
He spent most of the day back there.
In the evening I was taking Cookie for our last walk of the day. We just went around at the front so I kept her on the leash for safety.
Through the bush, there was crashing and there the cousin comes through the woods.
Understandably, Cookie barked at the intruder in the distance.
He was coming to the house and so did we, so Cookie could see who it was, meet and greet.
As we were coming closer, she stopped barking, interested in meeting this new person (she hasn't met him before)
As we came up, Cookie was all excited. She rubbed around his legs, positioning herself sideways, all wiggly, expecting attention.
However, no attention was coming her way.
Her friendly attempts got ignored; instead the cousin pulled out a power bar and started eating it.
Now Cookie was jumping up. I'm not entirely sure whether it was because she figured she'd get better noticed that way, or thinking that he was teasing her with the food.
"Does she want to eat me or just my power bar?" he asks.
I told him she just wanted him to greet with her. Yes, jumping up is wrong but what is one to do when polite attempts are being ignored and instead stuff is being waved up high in front of them?
To Cookie, the friend's place is now her property. All would be well if the intruder was being social. But he was not. And he does own a dog himself, so it's not like he should be all weird around them.
When the cousin finally decided to comply with required etiquette, he chose to do so by taking two fast strides towards Cookie.
Already suspicious of his actions, when he did that, Cookie jumped a few steps back and started barking.
The opportunity to make friends was lost.
If somebody came to my property, ignored my completely, I would find that disagreeable too.
What do you think?
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