First Walk

I took Takut the dog this morning for what was probably his first walk ever on a leash. Most dogs here just run loose, and so does Takut usually, but I wanted to walk him over to his new neighborhood and thought I had better use a leash, as the route is narrow streets and alleys all the way and the narrow streets and alleys are fairly busy with habitually careless motorists. 

He had no problem with the leash, which surprised me a bit. Often dogs will want to tug and pull when first fastened to a leash, but Takut walked along beside me quite politely, really. 

About halfway to the new place, however, we ran into trouble with a pack of dogs. I had feared as much from the beginning. These dogs, four or five of them, live in a roadside area where a few rough, open dwellings host various farmers, as far as I can tell, and the dogs are quite territorial. Of course, they rushed to the road immediately upon spotting Takut. Not that Takut was impressed. In fact, he was set to fight the whole bunch of them. Nonetheless, I figured the better part of valor would be to turn around and retreat. Which is where a leash comes in handy. So retreat we did (though I am fairly sure that I heard Takut mutter 'coward' under his breath several times).